Promises
by boop-oop-ee-doo
Summary: Sequel to Dawn's Magical Mishaps. Willow & Tara welcome baby Lily, and Faith uses her slayversary wish to resurrect another beloved Scooby. But The Dark Slayer faces her greatest challenge when a demon attack leaves Buffy fighting for her life.
1. A Very Very Special Day

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

AN: This fic takes place four months after 'Family Reunion', so Tara is nearing the end of her pregnancy. Also, some of you will be happy to know that Buffy and Faith are going to share the spotlight a lot more in this story. And thanks for your suggestions for puppy names. Someone suggested naming it after a Dollhouse character, so I'm gonna go with the name Echo, in honour of Eliza Dushku's character. I also have a cute little backstory for Echo that I'm going to put in one of my series of Christmas one-shots next month. Enjoy the story!

* * *

_"Higher Mommy Willow, push me higher!" Sophie giggled. Willow obeyed her daughter's requests and pushed her higher on the swing, but after a few more minutes the little girl tired of the swing and went to play on the slide instead. Willow smiled as she looked over to the picnic table where Tara sat bouncing a blonde haired baby on her knee. She knew the baby's name now. Lily.._

--

Willow woke, smiling. She had had that dream before, but it had become a lot more frequent as her second daughter's birth grew nearer. She propped herself up on one elbow to watch the still sleeping Tara, laying a hand on her wife's bulging belly.

"Hey Lil" she whispered to the unborn child. "Are you ready to come see us today? Your Mama Tara and I can't wait to meet you." The baby wasn't due for another two weeks, but Willow knew that this didn't mean much. The eight-month mark onward was a free-for-all as far as a pregnant woman going into labor was concerned. "Oh well, you just come out of there when you're good and ready, we'll be here." At this moment, Tara stirred, placing her own hand over Willow's.

"Morning" she said, smiling her beautiful lopsided smile.

"Morning" Willow smiled back, leaning over to give her wife a kiss. "Have a nice sleep?"

"Yeah. You were talking to the baby again weren't you?"

"Yeah.. oh, sorry. Did I wake you up?"

"No, I was already half awake." At that moment, Sophie skipped into the room carrying a tray with plates of toast and two glasses of orange juice.

"Good Morning, Mommies!" The little girl happily greeted them. "Auntie Faith helped me make you breakfast in bed!" The sleepy looking Dark Slayer came in behind Sophie, with Echo, the Border Collie pup that Buffy had given her for Christmas, bouncing around at her feet.

"Um, that's really sweet honey, but why?" Willow asked, sitting up and taking the tray from her daughter.

"Because" Sophie grinned, "Today is a very very special day."

--

The two wiccas spent the rest of the morning trying to get their daughter to tell them why today was 'very very special' but had no luck.

"Cordy tolds me not to tell you" explained Sophie. "She said you gots to work it out for yourself." Willow frowned when she heard this.

"You know, sometimes I wonder if she just says that to get out of telling us stuff" she complained to Tara that afternoon. "Or if Cordelia does this just to annoy me."

"She wouldn't do it on purpose" said Tara, defending the woman who had become one of her best friends during her four years in the grave. Willow snorted.

"You didn't know her when she was in high school."

--

Later, however, it quickly became obvious why that day was going to be special. While watching 'Cinderella' with Sophie, Tara felt a sudden, cramp-like pain. She tried to ignore it, not wanting to get too excited if it was a false alarm. When the pain returned a little while later, along with a sudden rush of fluid between her legs, she realised that this was definitely _not _a false alarm.

"WILLOW!"


	2. Beautiful

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

Willow, who had been upstairs carrying out the weekly baby-proof safety check on the house that she had been undertaking for the past two months, entered instant panic mode, having a good idea what her wife's sudden cry probably meant.

"Oh Goddess! Hang on Tara, I'm coming!" she called as she rushed down the stairs. Sophie smiled at her.

"I tolds you today was.."

"A very very special day, I know sweetie" Willow interrupted as she pulled Tara to her feet, ushering her towards the front door and grabbing the packed overnight bag that had been left beside it for this very occasion. "Now you go get Auntie Buffy and Auntie Faith and tell them to call everybody and then bring you and follow us to the hospital, okay?"

"Okay" Sophie replied, running off to obey her mother's instructions.

--

"You know, this is the part that I'm really going to hate" said Willow, driving to the hospital as fast as legally possible. Tara raised an eyebrow at her wife, puzzled.

"You mean the part where we see our baby for the first time?"

"No! If it feels anything like how I felt when I realised Sophie was our daughter, that part will be amazing beyond words. I meant.." At that moment, Tara was struck by another contraction. "_That _part" Willow finished. "The part where you're in pain and I can't do anything about it."

--

"I'm here, I'm here! Has she had the baby yet?" cried Xander as he ran into the waiting room where Buffy, Faith, Sophie, Dawn, and Connor already sat.

"Uh, it's only been half an hour Xand, so no" Buffy replied, smirking at her friend. "They're in one of the delivery rooms, but I'm guessing nothing much has happened yet."

"Oh" said Xander, sliding into a seat next to his friend. "I probably didn't really need to run out of work that quickly did I?"

"Probably not."

--

Meanwhile, in the delivery room, Willow was pacing nervously.

"Is the doctor supposed to leave you alone for this long? I don't think the doctor's supposed to leave you alone for this long!"

"Willow, calm down" Tara smiled, reaching out to take her wife's hand. "Breathe."

"That's what you're supposed to do!"

"I know, but you should do it to. Breathe with me Will, nice deep breaths, okay?"

"Okay" Willow watched Tara, mirroring her wife's actions. "Okay, I actually feel a little better now."

"Good."

--

A few hours passed, so Faith decided to take Sophie to the vending machine and get some snacks for the gang in the waiting room.

"So Little Red, you excited about meetin' your baby sister?"

"I already knows her" said Sophie, "I just haven't seed her yet". In some ways, this was true. Over the past months, the little girl had developed the ability to read the feelings of the child in her mother's womb, and already felt closer to her than anybody else she knew.

"Well, are you excited about seein' your baby sister then?" Faith asked.

"Very" Sophie replied, nodding.

--

Back in the delivery room, now that her contractions were becoming longer and more frequent, and with midwives bustling in and out of the room every few minutes, Tara was a lot less calm than she had been before.

"Um, Will..ahh!" she cried out, squeezing her wife's hand as another contraction hit. "M-maybe now you should get the doctor."

"Right" said Willow, speeding out of the room. "Hang on baby, I'll be right back." A few minutes later, Willow returned with the doctor in tow. She frowned at the sight of her wife gripping the edges of the bed as yet another contraction tore through her. "Oh Tara" she sighed rushing over to take her lover's hand. "I told you I wouldn't like this part."

"Yeah, not really a fan of it myself right now" Tara replied.

"It looks like you're fully dilated Mrs Rosenberg" said the doctor after examining Tara. "I think we might be ready to push." The doctor then called a couple of midwives into the room. "Okay Mrs Rosenberg, when the next contraction hits I want you to give a nice big push, okay?"

"Okay" After that, everything started to blur together for Tara. Contraction, push, relax. Contraction, push, relax. The only other thing she was really aware of was Willow's hand in hers, the redhead's other hand occasionally reaching up to wipe sweat from her forehead, or place an ice-chip on her lips.

"There's the head, one more push should do it!" Tara pushed, and then, after what seemed like an eternity, a baby's cry mingled with her final scream of pain. _Her_ baby's cry. "It's a girl!" The doctor announced. The midwives cut and tied the umbilical cord, then laid the baby on Tara's chest, tears of joy and relief running down the blonde wiccan's face as she saw her daughter for the first time. She reached down to stroke Lily's head and her cries quieted slightly, responding to Tara's touch and looking at her mother as though she recognised her.

"She's got your eyes, Will" Tara whispered. "She's beautiful. Isn't she beautiful?" Willow managed to tear her eyes away from her daughter long enough to look up at her soulmate, and smiled. Although her face was red from exhaustion, and her hair stuck to it with sweat, Tara had never looked more beautiful.

"Yeah" Willow replied, her smile widening. "Beautiful."


	3. Lily Anya Rosenberg

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

The midwives took Lily away to clean her up, leaving Willow and Tara alone. Willow leaned over to kiss her wife.

"You did good baby" she smiled. "I better go talk to the gang.." Willow stood and headed for the door.

"Okay, but Will?"

"Yeah?"

"Just bring Sophie first" said Tara. "I think we need some time with just the three.. I mean, four of us."

"Got it" Willow smiled.

--

Willow made her way into the waiting room, and found herself instantly swooped upon by its occupants.

"Whoa, whoa, easy guys!" Willow laughed. "Okay, so the baby's a girl but you knew that already, and she's healthy, and they've just taken her to get cleaned up. Now if you guys don't mind, I'm just gonna take Sophie to see her first, okay?" The other Scoobies were completely understanding, so Willow took her daughter's hand and led the very excited little girl off to see her baby sister.

--

Meanwhile, while Tara waited in the room, her ears pricked up as a baby cried, and her heart squeezed. It was Lily. She could already tell her daughter's cry apart from the other babies in the ward. A nurse entered the room cradling the screaming infant.

"I don't think this one likes being away from Mom" she smiled, gently placing Lily in Tara's arms. "She hasn't stopped crying since we took her for her bath. Someone will come in a little while to help you with her first feed, okay?" Tara nodded and thanked the nurse, but her eyes were fixed on her newborn daughter, who had stopped crying not long after she had been returned to her. She kissed the baby's forehead and stroked the soft blonde fuzz on her scalp. It was a few shades lighter than Tara's own hair, but she knew that it would most likely darken to a matching colour as she got older. At that moment, Willow came in carrying Sophie, who's eyes lit up at the sight of the blanket swaddled bundle in her mother's arms.

"Hi sweetie" Tara smiled as Willow placed the little girl on the bed beside her.

"Hi Mama Tara" Sophie replied, gazing in awe at her baby sister. Tara repositioned the baby slightly so that her eldest daughter could get a better view of her.

"Look, Lily" she whispered. "This is your big sister, Sophie." Sophie reached a hand out towards the baby, and Lily curled her own tiny hand around her sister's pinky, gurgling happily.

"See Mommies?" said Sophie. "She already knows me."

"That has got to be the the sweetest thing I have ever seen" said Willow, smiling at her two daughters.

"No arguments here" Tara replied.

"Have you gived Lily Willow Bear yet?" Sophie asked Tara.

"No" said Tara, shaking her head. "You go get her sweetie, she's in the bag over there." Sophie slid off the bed and began rummaging around in the bag.

"Willow Bear?" asked Willow, brow crinkling in confusion.

"Yeah" Tara smiled. "Sophie has a Tara Bear so I thought Lily could have a Willow Bear, but nothing in any of the toy stores looked right, so I just made one."

"Found her!" said Sophie, pulling the teddy out of the bag. It had red fur the same shade as Willow's hair, and two emerald green buttons for eyes. Sophie clambered back onto the bed and held the bear out to Lily, who just stared at it.

"I think she might be too little for a teddy bear Sophie" Tara laughed. "We'll give it to her when she gets a bit bigger." She turned to Willow, holding the baby out towords her. "Do you want to hold her now Will? And you can call the others in now if you want." Willow beamed, carefully taking her baby daughter from Tara's arms and sending a telepathic message to Buffy and Xander. Barely a minute later, Xander, Buffy, Faith, Dawn, and Connor rushed into the room. Dawn squealed and ran over to look at the baby.

"Oh my god, she's gorgeous!" The youngest Summers cried.

"Shh!" Willow hissed, holding the baby closer when she whimpered a little. "You're scaring her!"

"Sorry" said Dawn. "So, what are you going to call her?" Willow smiled, only she, Tara, and Sophie had known that the baby already had a name.

"Lily" she said, gazing lovingly at the bundle in her arms. "Lily Anya Rosenberg."


	4. Lily's Hello

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

Two days later in the early afternoon, Willow and Tara brought their little bundle of joy home from the hospital.

"We're home!" Willow called as she entered the house. Tara followed, cradling Lily.

"This is our house" she explained to the baby, gently bouncing her as she spoke. "We live here with Auntie Buffy, Auntie Faith, Auntie Dawn, and Connor."

"Mommy Willow, Mama Tara!" Sophie cried happily as she ran to them, with Echo scampering along at her feet.. She grabbed hold of Willow's hand and began dragging her towards the loungeroom, gesturing for Tara to follow. "Come on, somebody's waiting to see you!" They walked in to the room to find their favourite Watcher and Watcher-in-training waiting for them, along with their other housemates.

"Giles!" Willow grinned, embracing the Watcher when he reached her. "What are you doing here?"

"We had to come meet the new arrival" said Giles, smiling. "Our flight got in this morning and Andrew and I were going to come see you at the hospital, but Buffy told us that you were coming home this afternoon, so we thought we might as well wait here." Giles' eyes softened as his gaze fell on the tiny bundle in Tara's arms. "This must be Lily."

"Yeah" Tara smiled, fixing the collar of the baby's tiny pink jumpsuit. "Would you like to hold her?"

"Well yes, if you don't mind."

"Of course not" said Tara, carefully transferring her daughter into Giles' arms. "Be careful of her head."

"Yes, I know. She's adorable" he smiled, looking up at Willow. "She has your eyes." Baby Lily stared up at Giles, considering him, then gurgled happily, raising her tiny hand and clenching it into a fist as though trying to grab something.

"She wants your pinky Giles" Willow laughed at the Watcher's slightly puzzled look. "I think grabbing your pinky is Sophie's way of saying hello."

"Oh" said Giles, offering the baby his finger and smiling when her hand curled around it. "Hello."

"My turn, my turn!" cried Andrew excitedly, beaming when Giles passed Lily to him. "She's so cute! And tiny!" Lily didn't seem to know what to make of Andrew, and just stared at the soon-to-be watcher confusedly as he made funny faces at her. The rest of the gang all took turns holding the baby. Faith kept her for the longest, and was surprisingly a natural, instinctively rocking and bouncing the baby girl. The Dark Slayer saw herself as a more official Auntie to Sophie and Lily now that she had fully embraced her newfound status as Tara's sister. Eventually, Lily began to fuss and grizzle, so Tara took the baby upstairs, fed her, changed her, and put her down for a nap.

--

That night, a sleeping Willow attempted to snuggle closer to Tara. Snuggling with her wife was a lot easier now that she could fit her arms all the way around her again. Unfortunately, however, the other woman was not in bed. Willow grinned widely when she realised that Tara was probably feeding the baby, climbing out of bed and quickly creeping towards the nursery and standing in the doorway.

"You're supposed to be asleep" said Tara without looking up from Lily, cradled against her breast.

"I know, but I thought we agreed to share feeds" Willow smiled.

"Yes, but I haven't pumped any milk yet, and the whole point of sharing feeds is that the person not feeding can sleep."

"Psh, who needs sleep?"

"Yeah, I'm sure you'll be saying that again in a few weeks time" Tara smirked. Lily was full, so she stood and handed her to Willow. "There. If you want to share the job you can burp her and get her back to sleep, which is exactly where I'm going." She leaned over and gave her wife a peck on the cheek. "Night, Will. I love you."

"I love you too Tara." At that moment, Lily grabbed hold of Willow's finger. "And you" the redhead smiled, positioning the baby over her shoulder to burp her.


	5. A Mansion Made Of Pudding?

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

Six weeks went by, and Willow and Tara's joy at the arrival of their new daughter was contagious, spreading through the entire household. Buffy had already declared herself baby Lily's favourite auntie, claiming that it was only fair seeing as Faith had already taken that role with Sophie. This made Dawn a little jealous, so she called dibs on favourite auntie status with the next Scooby baby.

As for Sophie, she was the proudest big sister anyone could imagine. She loved helping her mothers with the baby. Today she was helping Willow give Lily a bath, when suddenly, the baby smiled. Her first smile.

"Oh goddess! Tara! Tara, come here, quick!" Willow called.

"What is it?" cried Tara as she ran up the stairs and into the bathroom, panicking slightly. "Is something wrong?"

"Not at all" Willow grinned. Tara looked confused.

"Then why.."

"She's smiling, Mama Tara!" cried Sophie happily. "Lily's smiling!" Tara's eyes lit up.

"Let me see" she said, a lopsided smile of her own breaking out over her face. Willow lifted Lily out of the bath, wrapping her in a fluffy pink towel and handing her to her wife. "Oh, you do have a pretty smile don't you Lily?" said Tara, placing a soft kiss on the infant's forehead. "Why don't we go dry you off and get you dressed and show that pretty smile to your aunties?"

--

Late that night, when they got back from patrol, Buffy and Faith were kissing passionately as they came through the door.

"Okay, I admit it" said Buffy as they parted for air, "You may have a point with the hungry and horny thing."

"Finally" Faith grinned, pulling her girlfriend into another kiss as they climbed the stairs, entered their room and fell onto the bed.

"About time you two got back" said a voice, causing the slayers to jump, but they quickly relaxed when they spotted a familiar member of the powers that be leaning against their wardrobe.

"Damn, Queen C" said Faith, rolling of of Buffy, "Could you give us a little warnin' next time you just pop into our room like that?"

"I didn't just 'pop in', I've been waiting here for ages" Cordelia explained. "You were just a little too, uh, preoccupied to notice me when you first got here."

"Right, so, why are you here?" Buffy asked.

"Well, mainly its because Anya wanted to see the baby. And don't worry, Tara knows she's here, I asked Sophie to tell her. But I thought that while I was here I might as well remind you two that Faith's ten year slayversary is coming up in a couple of months, and the other powers have decided to give her the same gift they gave to you."

"You mean a wish?" asked Faith.

"No, a mansion made of pudding" said Cordelia sarcastically. "Of course its a wish!" She sighed and checked the time. "Well, I better go get Anya. We've already stayed longer than we were supposed to, and the powers didn't even want me to bring her. I don't want to risk pissing them off to much, makes for a kind of hostile work environment. See ya."

"Bye Cordy" Buffy called after her as she left the room, before rolling over to face Faith. "So Baby, what are you gonna wish for?" Faith thought for a moment.

"Well, that mansion made of puddin' sounded pretty good.."

* * *

AN: Anya's visit with Lily will be featured in the next chap, I just meant for this one to be more Fuffy centric.


	6. The Secret

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

Tara crept quietly into the nursery, clearing her throat so as not to frighten a certain ex-demon friend who was currently gazing down at the baby sleeping in the crib.

"Hey Tara" Anya whispered. "Did Sophie remember to tell you I was coming? If she didn't, don't freak out. I'm not the first evil and I'm not trying to steal your baby."

"I know" Tara whispered back. "Don't worry, Sophie did remember."

"I just wanted to see her" said Anya, gesturing to baby Lily. "Because, you know, you gave her my name as part of hers, and my name was really all I had to leave behind here, because I died before.."

"I know, it's okay" said Tara, placing a comforting hand on the shoulder of her teary-eyed friend. "You can stay as long as you want." At that moment, Lily began to stir and grizzle. Tara fed her, and burped her, then cleaned up the small amount of spit up milk that had come from the baby's mouth. "You can hold her if you want, just be careful and make sure you support her head properly."

"I know that, I'm not stupid" said Anya, taking the baby from Tara's arms. "She's very small. Are they supposed to be this small?"

"Yeah" Tara smiled, nodding.

"Would mine have been.."

"What do you mean yours?" asked a confused Willow from the doorway, rubbing her eyes. She had almost slept through Anya's visit, but she wanted to see her. Despite disagreeing with the ex-demon the great majority of the time, she had missed her when she died. As a matter of fact, she'd been surprised at just how much she missed her. Tara took a deep breath.

"Okay Will, I'm gonna let you in on something that you can't tell anybody, especially not Xander."

"Um.." Willow gulped, taking a few steps backwards. "I'm not so good at secrets."

"Its not really a secret" said Tara. "Its more a 'don't tell unless you want to send your best friend spiralling into a bottomless pit of depression' type thing."

"Okay" said Willow, still a little worried. "But I have warned you, and if I blab it'll be your fault for telling me in the first place." Tara took another deep breath before replying.

"Anya was pregnant when she died."

"WHAT?!" yelled Willow, before remembering the house's other sleeping occupants and the baby in the ex-demon's arms and trying to calm down. "D-did you just say what I think you just said?" Tara nodded. "Oh goddess! Was it Xander's?" Anya glared at her.

"Of course it was Xander's!" she cried. "The only reason I didn't tell him was because I knew there was a good chance I was going to die and I didn't want him to get all depressed about losing me and a baby, and spending the rest of his life wondering if he could have saved us!"

"Sorry Anya, I didn't mean... this is just a lot to take in at two o'clock in the morning, you know?"

"Do you want to sit down baby?" Tara asked, leading her wife over to the rocking chair.

"Yeah, that would be good" said Willow, sitting. The three women fell into a slightly uncomfortable silence, until a grin spread over Anya's face.

"Hey, your tiny newborn human is smiling at me."

"She smiled for the first time just this morning" said Tara proudly.

"She didn't look like much when she first came out covered in all that blood and gunk, but now she's kinda cute" said Anya. "You might be able to win some money if you enter her in one of those cutest baby contests."

"Maybe it's a good thing you never had children" said Willow, rolling her eyes. At that moment, Cordelia entered the room.

"It's time for us to get going Anya" she sighed. "I wish we could stay longer, but.."

"It's okay" said Anya. She moved to hand Lily back to Tara but Cordy stopped her.

"Oh, hang on. I should have time for one little baby-snuggle before we go."


	7. Willow's Idea

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

Following the visit from Anya, and her discovery the next morning that Faith, like Buffy, was recieving a wish as her 10-year slayversary present, Willow's mind began to form an idea. Of course, their were a couple of things that she needed to make clear to herself before she attempted to make this idea a reality, and to make these things clear, there was only one person she could ask. Thankfully, this was the one person she trusted more than anyone else in the world to tell her the truth.

"Hey Tara, can I ask you something?" Willow said to her wife as she made lunch for Sophie who was sitting patiently at the kitchen table. Lily was down for her nap.

"Anything" Tara replied, raising an eyebrow at the redhead. "You know that."

"Yeah. So um, when Buffy wished you back to life, you came back exactly as you were before you died right?"

"Um, I think so" said Tara, becoming a little confused. "Why? Did you notice anything different about me?"

"No, I just wanted your opinion" said Willow.

"It's 'cause she wants Auntie Faith to use her wish to bring Auntie Anya back, and she wants to know if she'll still be pregnant if she does" said Sophie, reading her mother's mind.

"You got me there kiddo" Willow smiled, ruffling her daughter's hair as she placed a ham and cheese sandwich down in front of her.

"Oh" said Tara, now understanding. "Well, since I wasn't pregnant when I died I can't really tell you. That's really the type of thing you'd have to ask Cordelia."

"Yeah, too bad I didn't think of it last night."

"It's a nice idea though" Tara continued. "You should definitely suggest it to Faith if she can't think of anything else."

"And I could ask Cordelia abouts it for you next time she visits my dreams" said Sophie through a mouthful of sandwich.

"Really?" said Willow, getting a little excited.

"Uh-huh" Sophie replied, nodding. "She visited me in my room last night and tolds me she was gonna come see me again real soon. Cordelia likes visiting me in real lifes, she says the hugs are better."

--

A few days later, in the early morning, Sophie crept into her parents room and gently shook Willow awake.

"What is it?" ahe mumbled sleepily.

"Cordelia comed to see me last night" said Sophie. "All she tolds me was that bringing back Auntie Anya would be likes getting a two for one deal."

"I think I know what that means" Willow grinned as she sat up, rubbing sleep from her eyes. Cordelia wasn't so bad really. Especially since every one of her supposedly cryptic messages were obvious to anybody possessing a fully functional brain.

"And Uncle Xander's here" Sophie continued. "He's downstairs with Lily and Mama Tara." This didn't surprise Willow at all. Since the baby had been born, Xander had begun regularly dropping in for visits on his way to work. Seeing as newborns don't know the meaning of the word sleep-in, either Willow, Tara, or both were always awake to greet him. As she walked downstairs today however, the sight of her best friend cradling her baby daughter, making funny faces at the little girl while she smiled up at him, had a more powerful effect on Willow than it had ever had before. Xander would have been a great father. She looked across to Tara, knowing that they shared the same thought. Now, with a little help from Faith, they had the chance to get their friends a happily ever after just like they had. They were going to get Anya back, her and her baby.


	8. Hidden Maternal Instincts

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

"Oh, come on B" Faith complained to her girlfriend later that day. "Why can't I wish for a mansion made of pudding?"

"Because that would be stupid and immature" said Buffy. "What could you possibly do with a mansion made of pudding?"

"Well I don't know.. eat it, maybe?" said Faith sarcastically.

"Yes, but then what?" said Buffy. "You should wish for something meaningful."

"Okay. How about world peace then?"

"No."

"What's wrong with that?" Faith cried.

"It would be a waste of a wish" said Buffy. "Sure, it'd be all sunshine and rainbows for awhile, but sooner or later there'll be an idiot or two who'll do something to screw it all up. It's human nature."

"Guess you've got a point there B" Faith sighed. "I'm gonna go take Echo for a walk, clear my head a little. Maybe then I'll think of somethin'."

"Do you want me to come with you?" Buffy asked. Faith shook her head.

"Nah, can't clear my head with you around B" she smiled, kissing her girlfriend's cheek. "Gets too filled up with you. See ya."

--

A little while later, a very pissed off looking Dark Slayer marched through the front door, carrying a frightened, whimpering Echo in her arms.

"Can you believe the freakin' nerve of some people?" she asked Willow, who was feeding Lily from a bottle of Tara's pumped breastmilk. "This damn pit bull took a snap at Echo in the park and the owner wouldn't apologise for it! He tried to blame Echo!" Listening to Faith's continuing rant, Willow couldn't help but agree with Tara's theory that the Dark Slayer used her puppy as a way of exercising the maternal instincts she wasn't ready to admit she had. After all, it was a mother's natural instinct to defend their child from bullies, and shift any blame away from them whenever possible. That said, Willow agreed with Faith, and didn't believe that Echo could have caused any trouble with the other dog. She'd never seen the pup be anything but friendly to anyone, human or animal. "And then while me and the guy were arguin', the damn dog had another go! Poor Echo got the shi-"

"Faith!" Willow cried, hugging Lily closer to her chest. "Innocent baby ears here! We don't want her little mind being corrupted before she's even a year old!"

"Sorry Red.. How is the little rugrat today anyway?"

"She's good" Willow smiled, gazing down at the baby. "Hey, there's something I've been meaning to ask you about."

"Ask away Red."

"Have you decided what you're gonna do with your slayversary wish yet?"

"No" Faith sighed. "I've had a couple of ideas but Buffy's gone and cra-" she paused at Willow's glare, "I mean pooped on all of 'em. And I really don't see why wishin' for a mansion made of pudding would be so bad. Little Red thought it was a good idea."

"Sophie's four years old, of course she thought it was a good idea!"

"Not my strongest argument I admit, but Little Red is pretty mature for her age."

"Yeah" Willow agreed, putting the bottle down and placing Lily over her shoulder to burp her. "Well anyway, I've got a suggestion for you.." And so, Willow explained the events that transpired on the night of Anya's visit, Cordelia's following visit to Sophie a few nights later, and the idea that she and Tara had come up with.

"Damn, why didn't I think of that? Nice idea Red, I always got on alright with Anya. And if what Queen C says to Little Red means what we all think it means, we'd have another one of these runnin' around here soon" The Dark Slayer smiled, gesturing to Lily. "I'd be savin' two lives for the price of one! Yeah, that's a great idea! I'm gonna go tell Buffy." The Dark Slayer ran upstairs, and Willow smiled down at Lily.

"Here that Lil? Auntie Faith's going to bring Auntie Anya back to life. Isn't that good?" The baby's only answer was to smile and gurgle happily. Willow's own smile widened. "Yeah, that's good."

* * *

AN: Updates on this may be less frequent while I work on my Christmas stories, a collection of Christmas one shots set in this universe titled "Scooby Family Christmas Tales", and "A Fuffy Christmas Carol", starring Faith in the Scrooge role. That's probably one for fans of "The Watcher Of Sunnyhell". However, I will still try to update this as often as possible.


	9. Babies Vs Older Kids

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

Two months went by in the Scooby household, and excitement was building among the house's occupants as Faith's slayerversary fast approached. Xander, however, was beginning to feel a little frustrated. Whenever he had dropped by for visits during the last couple of months, he couldn't help but feel that his friends were hiding something from him, and he wanted to know what it was. He hated being out of the loop, yet he always seemed to be lately. If a situation arose and Buffy forgot to call somebody, you could bet it would be him. Willow never remembered to call either, but that was understandable. She had her family to worry about now. Xander had reached a point in his life where he was beginning to think about starting his own family. The problem was that whenever he thought about this, in his mind it was always with Anya. If Anya was still alive she probably would have made him feel better about feeling as distant from the other Scoobies as he did lately. But she wasn't still alive, and she couldn't make him feel any better. Xander Harris was definitely out of the loop, and he didn't like it one bit.

--

Because Faith, unlike Buffy, had explained to most of her friends about her wish, why she was receiving it, and what she was going to wish for, the day of her slayerversary was being treated as a very important occasion. Giles and Andrew had flown over from England, and tonight, the night before the party planned to celebrate the Dark Slayer's milestone, Angel, Spike, and Illyria were due to arrive.

--

"Sorry we're late" said Spike when he and the rest of the Fang Gang made their way into the house. "Angel thought he saw Lorne out the back of some nightclub and spent an hour trying to follow him."

"It wasn't him" Angel sighed. "But at Christmas Cordy said that talked the other powers into letting her talk to him awhile ago, and she said that his resolve to never see us again is starting to weaken a little, so that's a pretty good sign." The vamp's eyes lit up when he spotted Willow holding her now three-month old baby daughter. "This must be Lily." The Fang Gang had not met her yet as the recent rise in the senior partner's attempts on their lives had made making the trip to Cleveland difficult, but they (meaning Angel) had sent a lot of presents.

"Yup, that's our girl" Willow smiled, passing the baby to her vampire friend. She felt somewhat closer to Angel since her children had come into her life, because they were both parents now, and only a parent could ever truly understand another parent.

"Aww, you're a real little cutie-pie aren't you? Yes you are!" Angel tickled Lily's stomach, making her giggle.

"Nice one Red, you just had to give him the bloody baby didn't you?" said Spike. "Now he'll be all baby talkin' and coochy-cooing and we won't be able to shut him up."

"But she's so cute, yes she is! She's a cute widdle baby" said Angel in a ridiculous baby voice. "Come on Spike, how can you resist that face?"

"The kid is cute, I'm not disputin' that" said Spike, smiling over at Willow and Tara, "I just like the older ones better, you can do more with 'em." He turned to Sophie as an example. "Hey Little Red, wanna come watch my DVD box-set of 'Passions' with me? It's got witches and a doll that comes to life in it."

"Okay Uncle Spike" Sophie replied, following the vamp into the lounge room.

--

That night, Faith sat awake, waiting for the Powers to return and grant her wish, as she had been informed would happen a week before. Buffy had been sitting up with her, but had fallen asleep against her girlfriend's shoulder. Echo, who was now reaching that clumsy age when his legs were too long for the rest of him, was curled up at her other side. Suddenly, an all-encompassing white light filled the room. But, unlike the one that had appeared the week before, or the one that had appeared on Buffy's slayerversary, this light cleared to reveal Cordelia.

"Hey" she smiled brightly. "I get to grant your wish!"

"Great" Faith grinned. "You already know what I want, make it so Queen C."

"Gladly" Cordy grinne back.


	10. Taking Nothing For Granted

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

Cordelia waved an arm, and in another flash of light, Anya appeared.

"Wow, you wished me back, you actually did it!" The ex-demon cried excitedly. "Ooh, my heart's beating! I'm alive, I'm really alive!" While Anya continued to marvel at her own heartbeat, Spike made his way downstairs, 'Passions' DVDs in hand.

"Angel's driving me nuts, bloody wanker. Started up some stupid argument about a thing that happened back in the 1900's." The vamp froze when he spotted a certain former demon, and Buffy began to stir. She smiled when she saw Anya, then turned to Faith, opening her mouth to say something, but Spike beat her to it. "Anya!" He grinned, "Nice to see you back in the land of the living luv."

"Its nice to see you too Spike" Anya smiled, hugging the vamp.

"Well, it's time for me to go" Cordelia sighed.

"Aww, do ya have to?" Faith asked, frowning. "Can't you at least stay for the party tomorrow?"

"I wish I could, but no" said Cordy. She walked over to Anya, pulling her away from Spike and into her own hug. "You better stay in the land of the living for at least the next forty years missy. I don't want to see you back in my neck of the woods until you're old and wrinkly, got it?"

"Got it" Anya replied.

"And you've got to pass that message on to Tara when you see her, promise?"

"Promise."

"Okay. Goodbye everyone." Cordelia began to fade away, but suddenly re-corporealised. "One more thing, can somebody tell Angel I said hi?"

"Of course" Buffy smiled. "Bye, Cordy."

--

Early the next morning, Tara woke, smiling at the sound of Lily's giggles and gurgles coming through the baby monitor. She was a good baby, rarely crying except for matters of vital importance, like feeds or diaper changes. Tara disentangled herself from Willow's arms and climbed out of bed, silencing her wife's grumbles of protest by dropping a kiss to her forehead, resulting in the sleeping redhead emitting a small sigh of contentment. Tara then made her way into the nursery, lifting her baby daughter out of her crib before feeding her, changing her, dressing her and carrying her downstairs. Due to her prior knowledge of the events that were to have transpired the previous night, the blonde wicca was only mildly surprised to find Anya sitting on the couch, munching on a bowl of popcorn and watching 'Passions'. The lumpy blanket covered figure beside her was slightly more puzzling.

"It's Spike" said Anya, answering Tara's silent question. "He got grumpy everytime I tried to wake him up. The curtains are all closed, but I covered him up just in case any stray little rays got through and wanted to fry him."

"Good idea" replied Tara, nodding.

"Oh, and Cordelia says neither of us are allowed to die again until we're old and wrinkly."

"She doesn't have to worry, I don't plan on dying again any time soon" Tara smiled, gently bouncing a giggling Lily in her arms. "I've got too much to look after here. And I've seen myself in the future knitting clothes for my grandchildren, so that's a pretty good sign."

"Hmm. You know, the thought of getting old and wrinkly used to scare me" said Anya, "But it doesn't anymore. Since I lived so long the first time around, there were a whole lot of things I took for granted, like getting old, and having children that will look after me when I'm old, and grandchildren who are supposed to be better than children in some ways 'cause you can give them back when they annoy you.. even my own heartbeat" She paused, placing a hand on her stomach. "There's nothing I'm going to take for granted this time, Tara. Nothing."


	11. Subtle

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

By that afternoon, the party celebrating Faith's Slayerversary and Anya's resurrection was in full swing. Xander was the only guest yet to arrive, as he had had to work that morning. However, the one-eyed handyman's abscence was making Anya anxious.

"Are you sure he's coming?" she asked Tara, tugging nervously at the hem of her skirt. Thankfully Willow, being the gatherer of sentimental objects that she was around the time Sunnydale fell, had salvaged Anya's luggage from the bus so that Xander did not have to deal with it in his grief, and kept her friend's belongings in some boxes at the back of her closet.

"Yes Anya, he's coming" said Tara, trying to reassure her.

"Well where is he? Everyone else is here!"

"He's at work. And the only reason everyone else is here already is because they either live or are staying here at the moment. Now calm down, you being so stressed isn't good for the baby."

"The baby? Oh, the baby!" Cried Anya. "How am I going to explain that to him? What if he panics? He does panic very easily you know.."

"Anya, seriously, calm down!" said Tara, grabbing hold of her friends shoulders. "As for telling Xander about the baby, try to break it to him gently, don't just blurt it out like you usually do, and everything should be fine. Okay?"

"Okay" said Anya, beginning to relax a little.

"Good" said Tara. "Now how about you go talk to Giles for awhile, he's missed you." As the ex-demon walked off to follow Tara's suggestion, Faith approached, with a slightly concerned expression on her face.

"Is she okay?" The Dark Slayer felt somewhat responsible for the well being of the woman she had brought back into the world, and had therefor been checking up on her at regular intervals. She really needn't have worried, as since their encounter that morning, Anya had latched on to Tara, the only other person who had been through a resurrection-by-wish as she had, and who also happened to be the person who had fought to get Anya into heaven, and the person other than Xander who was most inclined to be patient with her.

"Yeah" Tara replied. "She was just freaking out about how Xander's gonna react to everything. I got her to relax a little, so she should be fine." At this, Faith let out a small chuckle. "What?" Tara frowned.

"Well, you're kinda like everyone's big sister" Faith grinned. "I'm just the only one who's officially given ya the title."

"I guess" said Tara. "Though if you count her demon years, Anya's actually about a thousand years older than me."

"I knew that" said Faith, "but as far as mental and emotional maturity goes, she's got nothin' on you T. Hell, in some ways even Little Red is more mature than Anya. Where is the kid anyway?"

--

It just so happened that Sophie was upstairs, having a tea-party with Illyria and her toys. The god-king was sitting quite uncomfortably in a tiny pink plastic chair in between Wesley Mouse and Princess Bluebird, the stuffed toy she had given Sophie for Christmas. She was currently asking the little girl for information on the resurrected human.

"So, Anya is the mate of the human with only one eye?"

"I think so" said Sophie. "They wasn't together when Auntie Anya died, but my mommies say that they still loves each other, and Auntie Anya is having Uncle Xander's baby, and my mommies say people should only have babies if they're really in love."

"Then how did the half-breed Angel's child come to be?" asked Illyria, confused.

"I don'ts know" Sophie said, shrugging. "I thinks that's one of the things I'm nots allowed to know about 'til I'm older."

--

Meanwhile downstairs, Xander entered the house carrying a six pack.

"Hey!" he called, "I come bearing bee.." he froze when he spotted Anya talking to Giles, and she froze too when she spotted him. For a few seconds, they just stood and stared at each other. Then, Anya ran straight up and kissed Xander square on the lips, causing the beers to drop with a crash.

"Well, she never was one for bein' subtle" Faith sighed.


	12. In It Together

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

"Um.. hi" said Anya as she pulled away from Xander, a small smile on her face. "Faith brought me back with her Slayerversary wish and.." This time, Anya was the one who was cut off as Xander grinning, kissed her again. Yes, he knew that this may not have been the smartest thing he had ever done, as they had not been together when Anya died, and this situation should therefor have called for careful consideration and discussion. But in that moment, Xander didn't really care. And in his defence, she _had_ kissed him first.

--

"So, anybody hungry? Yes? Well there's plenty of snacks in the kitchen" said Buffy. Taking the slayer's hint, the others began to clear the room to give the reunited pair some space. With great effort, Anya managed to tear her lips away from Xander's.

"There are some things that we need to talk about."

"I know" said Xander, reaching out to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "But can't it wait, just for a little while?"

"It really can't" Anya replied, taking a step away from him. "Uh, you should probably sit down."

"Okay" said Xander, frowning as he followed her over to the couch. "You're freaking me out a little Ahn. Is anything wrong? Are you sick or something?"

"No. Well, maybe a little this morning, but I hear that's to be expected when-" The ex-demon caught herself just in time, but knew she had to tell Xander properly soon, before she blurted out the news at another inappropriate point in the conversation. "So, you know that one time back in Sunnydale after Spike ran off to find Buffy after we kicked her out, and everyone was having really loud sex upstairs, and then we had sex on the kitchen floor?"

"Yeah.." said Xander, not getting where Anya was going with this.

"Well, uh, I got pregnant. And when Faith wished me back, the baby came back too."

"Y-you're having a baby?" Xander stuttered.

"Yes" said Anya.

"My baby?" asked Xander.

"Yup. Oh, you're freaking out aren't you? I knew this would happen. But I couldn't not tell you, because you deserve to know, and it will be pretty hard to hide it once my stomach blows up like a balloon, and I'm freaking out too because I have no idea how to look after a tiny human by myself.." The ex-demon was almost on the verge of tears, and Xander frowned.

"You won't be by yourself Ahn" he said, pulling her into his arms. Anya looked up at him, sniffling.

"I won't?"

"Of course not. I'm not gonna lie to you, this was kind of a shock. But, abandoning you on our wedding day is the stupidest thing I've ever done, and when you died I thought I'd never get the chance to make it up to you. You don't have to do this on your own, whatever happens, we'll face it together, you, me, and little Xander Junior" he grinned. Anya glared at him.

"We are not naming our child Xander Junior."

"Oh come on, he likes it" said Xander, talking to Anya's stomach. "You like that name don't you Junior?"

"Well what if it's a girl?"

"Um.. Alexandra?"

"That's it, I am officially in charge of naming our tiny human."

--

Buffy peeked into the room, smiling at the couple bickering over baby names.

"Looks like everything's back to normal."


	13. Much More Fun

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

Buffy made her way back into the kitchen, smiling when she saw Faith holding baby Lily. Any other day, she would probably have light heartedly reprimanded her girlfriend for muscling in on _her _favourite niece, but not today. After all, this party was about Faith just as much as Anya, and while the Dark slayer was content to let her ex-demon friend share the spotlight, Buffy was determined to let her girlfriend know just how much she deserved to be celebrated.

"Keep this up and that bad ass rep of yours is gonna go right out the window" she smiled, walking over to her.

"There are worse things to lose" Faith shrugged. "Besides, as long as all the demons around here know I can still kick their butt, It doesn't matter if my family thinks I'm a big ol' softie."

"Your family?" asked Buffy, smile widening. Hearing Faith call Tara her sister was now a regular occurence, but this was the first time Buffy had heard her girlfriend refer to the whole Scooby Gang as her family.

"Um, yeah" said Faith, cheeks flushing a little as she realised what she had just said. "Is that a problem?"

"Not at all" Buffy grinned, leaning in to kiss her while also trying to avoid squishing Lily. "You are amazing, you know that?"

"Well, hearin' you say it is a nice ego boost" said Faith, gently bouncing the baby. "But why?"

"You could have used your wish on something for yourself, you could have had anything, even the pudding mansion if you'd really wanted it. But you used it on Anya."

"Figured her and Xander deserved another shot" said Faith, shrugging again. "They probably would have got back together eventually anyway if she hadn't died. And I didn't really need to use the wish on myself" she grinned. "I've already got everythin' I want."

"Do you now?" Buffy asked, grinning back.

"Yup" Faith replied, leaning in for another kiss from her girlfriend. The kiss quickly deepened, at which point Willow marched over and snatched her baby girl away from the Dark slayer.

"Honestly guys!" she shouted, annoyed. "Could you at least _try_ not to tarnish the fragile innocence of my three-month old? She could be traumatised for all we know!" Then Lily giggled, and Faith raised an eyebrow.

"She doesn't look too traumatised to me."

--

"Okay, Lily's down for her nap" said Tara a little later, walking up behind Willow and wrapping her arms around her waist. "You know, I think you may have overreacted a little over the Faith and Buffy kissing thing.

"Maybe" Willow admitted. "Was Sophie okay with Illyria?"

"She's fine" Tara laughed. "You're really going all Miss Protective today aren't you?"

"I'm allowed to be" said Willow. "It's my parental right for giving them half of their DNA! And I just think we need to watch her, 'cause Illyria's never really treated friendship as anything important before, so we need to be careful."

"I've thought that too" said Tara, resting her chin on Willow's shoulder. "But then I thought something else."

"Like what?"

"Well, have you ever considered the possibility that maybe the reason Illyria has never treated friendship as important is that she's never had a friend?"

"That's actually a pretty good point" said Willow after a pause. "But we should still keep an eye on them."

--

The party continued late into the night, although by then, the gang weren't so much partying as sitting around reminiscing about their past adventures. Xander would have been happy to stay over, but he had to work the next day, and all his equipment was back at his apartment. He gently shook Anya, who had fallen asleep sitting in his lap.

"Ahn. Anya. Anya, wake up."

"Wha?" said Anya sleepily, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. "What is it?"

"I have to go home Ahn, I have work tomorrow" said Xander. "You can come with me if you want, but it's okay if you're not ready.." Anya cut him off with a kiss.

"I'll come" she smiled.

--

"Well, here we are" said Xander when they arrived back at his apartment. He was carrying one small box containing Anya's pyjamas and a few sets of clothes, planning to pick up the rest of her belongings after work the following day. "I showed you around when you were here for Willow and Tara's wedding, but in case you don't remember, the bathroom's that way, there's my bedroom, and that's the spare room" he said, pointing. "We can turn it into a nursery later, but you can sleep in there for now if you don't want to.."

"I want to" said Anya.

"Um, okay then" said Xander, becoming a little flustered. "I know this place isn't much but it'll do for now, and eventually we'll save up enough to buy a proper house.."

"Xander" Anya cut him off, stepping in front of him.

"Mhmm?" Xander mumbled, a little nervous.

"I have been dead for nearly five years. As fun as it is to talk about nice expensive houses, I want to be doing things that are a lot more fun." Then, for the second time that day she pounced on Xander and kissed him, causing her box of clothes to fall to the floor with a thud.

* * *

AN: The next chapter will feature the Scoobies going on a trip to the zoo, and taking Illyria a long for the ride. I want to do one more nice light chapter before things start getting a little darker.


	14. A Trip To The Zoo

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

Early the next morning at the Summers house the doorbell rang, and Willow, who was up giving Lily her morning feed, got up to answer it, finding Xander and Anya standing there.

"Hey Will" Xander smiled. "You know I've got to work today, but since Anya's kind of only just been brought back to life I didn't want to leave her alone, so it's okay if she hangs out around here with you guys today right?"

"Sure" Willow grinned, turning to Anya as she gently bounced Lily, still sucking on her bottle. "As long as you don't mind coming to the Zoo with us."

"No" said Anya a little confused. "But why are we going exactly?"

"Illyria wants to visit the place where 'humans capture and display their fellow creatures to observe for their own enjoyment.' Sounds really bad when you put it that way doesn't it? Anyway, Spike and Angel obviously can't take her and Sophie's never been, so we decided we might as well all go."

"Well, have fun then" said Xander, giving Anya a quick kiss before turning to head back to his car. "After my last zoo experience, I'm perfectly happy to give this one a miss."

"Why?" asked Anya. "What happened?"

"Don't you already know?" said Willow, confused. "Like, weren't you watching or something?"

"No" Anya replied, frowning as she entered the house. "We do have lives up there outside of looking down on you guys you know. Except for Tara. Love her to death, really, but boy, we could barely tear her away from you for two minutes without her getting twitchy. According to Mrs. Summers, the longest time she ever stopped watching you was when she went to talk on my behalf at the hearing about whether I should get into heaven or not, and then when she had to come meet me at those pearly gates. There weren't actually any gates though, I was kind of surprised by that, with how much people talk about it."

"Yeah" said Xander. "Well, what happened was that Dawn turned me, Faith, and Tara into animals awhile ago. I was a chimp, but I escaped out the window, got captured by animal control and thrown in the quarantine lock up at the zoo. That was a whole bundle of fun, I can tell you." Xander pulled his wallet out of his pocket and rummaged around in it, before pulling out a few bills and handing them to Anya. "But hey, don't let my bad experience spoil your day! You can use that to pay for lunch and the entry fee, and you should have enough left over for a souvenir, maybe something for Xander Junior."

"I thought I already told you" said Anya, glaring at him, "We are not naming the baby Xander Junior."

"I know, but I thought if I kept saying it it might grow on you" Xander smiled, giving her another kiss. "I really do have to go now. See you tonight." After he had left, Willow turned to Anya.

"Um, if there are no pearly gates at the entrance to heaven, what is there?"

"Well, you do walk into a bright light.." Anya became distracted by the baby in her friend's arms. "Do you think I could have a turn feeding her? I need to get some practice sooner or later."

"Sure" Willow smiled, handing over Lily, then the half-empty bottle. "But you know, this is probably more something that Xander should practise, 'cause if all goes well, you shouldn't have to worry about bottles for awhile. Tara still breastfeeds when it's her turn. She says she'll stop when Lily's teeth start to come in."

--

"Aww, look at the little meerkats!" said Dawn, pointing as the group, which consisted of herself, Connor, Buffy, Faith, Anya, Andrew, Illyria (in her Fred form, of course), Sophie, Willow, and Tara, pushing baby Lily in her pram, approached the enclosure. "They're so cute!"

"These creatures appear much larger on the television" said Illyria, cocking her head at them. "But I agree, they are, as you say 'cute'."

"Uh-huh" said Sophie, leaning just over the safety rail to get a closer look. Another child, a young boy, tried to push in front of the little girl, and almost sent her tumbling over the rail. While it was very unlikely that the meerkats would have hurt her, falling into an animal enclosure at the zoo would have been an unpleasant experience for any child, especially if, like Sophie, they were too small to find a way out by themselves. Thankfully, Illyria managed to throw an arm around the little girl's waist, pulling her back just in time. She glared at the boy and clenched a fist, causing the others to glance at each other worriedly, but did not harm him, and instead turning to Sophie, her hard eyes softening.

"Are you okay child?"

"Yep" said Sophie, hugging the God-King. "Thanks, Illyria."

"There is no need for thanks. You are my friend."

"Hey Tara" said Willow, turning to her wife. "You know all that stuff I said about being worried about Sophie with Illyria?"

"Yeah" Tara replied, smiling.

"Well, now might be a good time to forget it."

--

"That is despicable!" cried Illyria, after Willow had read the plaque outside the Sumatran tiger exhibit stating that there were only 4 or five hundred left in the wild due to poachers hunting them for their parts. "In the time of my rule, such creatures would have been revered for their strength and beauty, yet look what has become of them now, all because of human greed!"

"This would normally be the time that I'd make some comeback to try and defend my species, but this time I'm gonna have to agree with you" said Buffy.

--

A few hours later, the gang left the zoo. Anya was clutching a blue stuffed elephant.

"That's a pretty stereotyped colour you've picked there" said Willow, indicating the toy. "There was heaps of other stuff that wasn't quite so gender specific."

"I know" said Anya, placing a hand on her stomach. "But I think it's a boy. It feels like a boy. Yes, all my motherly instincts are telling me that Xander and I are expecting a tiny human male, whom we will not be naming Xander Junior under any circumstances."


	15. The First Day

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

"It's not fair!" Willow cried, clinging tightly to her daughter's hand as they headed through the gates. "It's just not fair! Most parents get five years to prepare themselves for this, but we've only had two!" Three months had passed since Faith's slayerversary and Anya's resurrection, and in those three months, Willow and Tara had marked their first wedding anniversary, and Sophie had celebrated her fifth birthday. Today was the little girl's first day in Kindergarten.

"I'll be okay Mommy Willow" said Sophie. "You and Mama Tara already checked that none of the teachers here were demons."

"Sure did, five times." Tara added, smirking at her wife. "Definitely no demonic teachers."

"I know you'll be okay sweetie" said Willow, crouching down to give her daughter a hug. "I'm just going to miss you, that's all."

"Ga ga gee ga goo ba ga" Lily babbled from her pram. Now six months old, the baby could almost sit up unaided, and had taken a keen interest in her Willow Bear, which now took pride of place beside her in the pram.

"I think Lily's going to miss you too" Tara smiled.

"She is, but it's okay, she knows I'm coming back" said Sophie, smiling at her little sister.

--

After they had met the teacher and made sure Sophie was settled, Tara had had to resort to forcefully dragging Willow from the classroom so they could go home. She hoped this didn't make it seem like she didn't care that her little girl was starting school, becase she did, a lot, and not having her there all day was going to take a lot of getting used to, but at the same time Tara knew that it was good for Sophie to spend some time with children her own age, away from the supernatural happenings of the Scooby gang's everyday life.

"Are you sure we packed her lunch? And a snack?" Willow panicked, a short time after they had arrived home. "Maybe I should go back and take her a spare, just in case.."

"She has her lunch" said Tara, catching her wife's arm before she could head right back out the door, without actually taking a spare lunch. "I packed it myself, remember?"

"Yeah.. but what if the other kids tease her? She is an easy target for bullies you know, having two moms and all.."

"She'll be fine Will. Anyway, when I was her age I would have thought it was cool to have two moms."

"That's because your dad was an evil abusive monster!" Willow cried. Tara sighed, Willow had her on that one.

"Look, how about you go play with Lily for a while" she said, lifting the baby out of the pram and handing her to her wife before heading into the kitchen for a cup of coffee. "Maybe that will help you take your mind off it."

"Okay.." Willow looked at her youngest child, who was currently occupied with sucking on Willow Bear's ear, and couldn't help but smile. "You are not leaving my sight at all until your first day of school, understand? And even then your Mama Tara will probably have to drag me away again. Come to think of it, your first day will probably even harder since we have the full five years before you have to go. But at least when you do start school I know you'll have your big sister there to keep an eye out for you, right?"

"Ga ba da" said Lily, giggling.

"I'm gonna take that as a yes" Willow smiled, kissing the baby's forehead. "How about we go watch Beauty & The Beast, that's your sister's favourite movie.

"Goo" said Lily.


	16. Distractions

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

Of course, while old enough to play with a teddy bear, Lily did not yet have the attention span needed to sit through a 90-minute movie, and, since it was close to her nap time anyway, fell asleep within the first half hour. Unfortunately, this meant that Willow lost her distraction from her older child's absence, and soon began to cry. This was the scene that Faith walked in on after returning from a long walk with Echo. The Dark Slayer slapped her forehead, as this was exactly the type of situation she had been hoping to avoid when she had set out on said walk. Sophie starting school was taking a greater emotional toll on her than she would have liked to admit, and she knew that if she saw one of the witches cry, it just might push her over the edge too. She considered heading straight back out the door, but Echo was having none of that, gently nudging his owner towards Willow.

"Uh, hey" Faith greeted, trying to ignore the growing lump in her throat._ God, _she thought, _if I'm actin' like this now how am I gonna be when it's my own kid?_. "How'd Little Red go at school?"

"O-okay. She was s-so brave!" Willow sobbed. It didn't surprise Faith at all that Willow had been the one to break. As she'd said before, Tara was a lot stronger than any of them gave her credit for. Herself on the other hand, not so strong. The Dark Slayer quickly wiped away the tears that were forming in the corners of her eyes and looked around for something to distract her, her gaze soon resting on the baby in her friend's lap who was beginning to grizzle as she woke, seemingly unimpressed with her mother's tears dropping onto her head.

"You're uh, cryin' on the baby there Red."

"Oh!" Willow wiped her eyes, then dried the damp patch of Lily's hair that her tears had caused. "Sorry sweetie."

"Ga goo ga" Lily giggled. Thankfully for Willow, her daughter was not yet old enough to stay annoyed with her for more than a few seconds.

"Tara told me to go play with Lily to help get my mind off of Sophie" Willow explained, sighing. "I guess watching Sophie's favourite movie wasn't the best move."

"Damn right it wasn't!" said Faith, sitting down beside Willow. "Besides the fact that that would make it nearly impossible not to think about Little Red, what 6 month-old could sit through a whole freakin' movie? You have to do something that she likes!" The Dark Slayer paused for a moment. "What do 6 month-olds like?"

"Well, she does like her bear" said Willow. "And there's one other thing.."

--

Not too much later, Lily sat on her rug on the floor, propped up by pillows.

"Where's Lily?" asked Willow in a childlike tone, while she, Faith and Echo knelt on the floor, hiding under a blanket. "Can you see her Auntie Faith?"

"Nope, no sign of her Red" Faith replied. "Can you see her Echo?" The dog barked in reply. Lily clapped and giggled, just as Buffy came through the front door, arms laden with shopping bags, with Xander and Anya in tow.

"We officially have groceries" the Slayer declared, "And look who I found out.." she paused, noticing a familiar pair of boots poking out from under the blanket, and the familiar black tail wagging beside them. She looked over to Tara, who had been standing in the kitchen doorway grinning at the scene since before she had arrived, then back to the pair of boots. "Faith, what are you doing?"

"Playin' with the baby, what does it look like I'm doin'?" said Faith, as she and Willow poked their heads out from under the blanket. "It's really good for takin' your mind off problems, B. You should try it sometime."

"Maybe I will" Buffy smiled.


	17. Awkward

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

As it turned out, Anya had had her first ultrasound that morning, and she and Xander had come over to show everybody the picture.

"It kind of looks more like a little alien than a human at the moment, but the doctor assured me that that's what it's supposed to look like" said Anya, as the other Scoobies, excluding Dawn and Connor who had gone to stay with Angel for a few days, gathered around to look at the picture. "That's its head there, and there's one of it's arms, and personally I think _that _is a penis, but Xander wouldn't let me find out for sure because he wants to be surprised." While Xander shook his head in embarrassment, now knowing it was useless to rein in Anya's words, Willow and Tara smiled at each other, then looked over at Lily, who was happily babbling away to Willow Bear. It didn't seem so long ago that she was just a picture on a little screen.

"Hey T" said Faith, frowning after she had caught a glimpse of the clock. "Don't you two have to pick up Little Red soon?" Tara glanced at the clock and gasped, then scooped Lily into her arms, before grabbing Willow and steering her towards the door.

"I thought you weren't worried" the redhead smirked.

"I'm not" Tara replied. "But that doesn't mean I want to be late picking her up on her first day." They ran outside, strapped Lily into the car and jumped in themselves, when Faith ran out after them.

"Wait up, T!" she called. "You forgot Lily's bear!" Then, claiming that it would somehow save time (When really she just wanted to go to), Faith hopped in the back seat beside Lily.

--

"It was fun, I gots to draw lots of pictures!" said Sophie, as they all headed back to the car after picking her up. "I drawed you Mommy Willow, and you Mama Tara, and you Auntie Faith, and Lily." The baby giggled at the sound of her name. "I drawed a picture of Illyria too, but when I telled the teacher she was my friend she thought that she was just an imaginary friend."

"Probably best it stays that way too" said Willow.

"Either that or say Illyria's a chick with a skin condition" said Faith.

"Then I started learning how to write my name" Sophie proudly continued. "I knows the first three letters are S, O, P!"

"That's very clever sweetie" Tara smiled. "Your Mommy Willow and I are so proud of you."

"Yeah" Willow agreed.

"Ga ga goo!" said Lily.

--

Later that night, Faith sat playing tea party with Sophie and her toys.

"You know, I'm proud of ya too Little Red" said Faith, pouring a cup of imaginary tea for herself. "Which is kinda stupid really, 'cause how great you're turnin' out has nothin' to do with me.."

"That's not true Auntie Faith!" Sophie protested. "You teach me lots of great stuff, like, um.. you teached me how to understand some of the stuff Illyria says, and that when Uncle Spike says 'bloody' it doesn't actually mean something's bloody."

"I guess that is somethin', at least" Faith smiled. At that moment, the doorbell rang, and Faith got up to answer it. "Sit tight Little Red, I'll be right back." The Dark slayer walked to the door and opened it to find herself face to face with Agent Riley Finn, and couldn't help thinking that this had to be one of the most awkward moments in history.


	18. Really, Really, Bad

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

This moment became more awkward by the second. It probably didn't help that neither Faith nor Riley had spoken yet.

"Um, hi" Faith managed to get out. "I'll uh, just go and get B for ya now, okay?" Faith rushed of into the kitchen to fetch her girlfriend, who emerged a few minutes later.

"Riley?" She frowned, a little confused, but gave her ex a hug. "I haven't seen you since that thing with Spike and the demon eggs. What are you doing here?"

"I'll, explain everything, I promise, but.." said Riley, gesturing to Faith, "What's she doing here?"

"She lives here" Buffy replied, not quite ready to explain the whole 'I'm gay and the woman you slept with that time she stole my body is now my girlfriend' situation. "Don't worry, she's been switched back to the right side of the force for a long time now." The Slayer inwardly groaned at her 'Star Wars' reference, thinking she should really stop letting Andrew force them all into watching a marathon of all six movies every time he and Giles visited. "So, you said something about explaining.."

"Yeah" said Riley. "Can we sit down?"

"Sure" Buffy replied. While she led Riley to the lounge room, Faith, still feeling awkward, slipped away upstairs. Sophie was still waiting for her aunt to come back and continue their tea party, but when a certain former commando entered the room, she suddenly became uncharacteristically nervous. "Oh Riley, this is Sophie, Willow and Tara's daughter."

"Didn't Tara die?"

"Yeah, but we brought her back" Buffy explained. "Long story. Sophie, this is Riley."

"H-hi" Sophie stuttered, before she too ran away upstairs.

"That's weird" said Buffy, frowning, as she and Riley sat down. "She's not usually so shy."

--

Sophie knocked on the door of Buffy and Faith's room, before Faith ushered her in.

"Hey Little Red. Sorry we didn't get to finish our tea party."

"That's okay Auntie Faith" said Sophie. "Um, can I hide in here with you?"

"Sure" The Dark Slayer raised her eyebrow, a little confused. "But why do you want to hide? Did Riley ask any inappropriate questions about you and your moms? 'Cause if he did I'll.."

"Riley didn't say anything bad" said Sophie. "He just gives me a yucky feeling in my tummy, and I feels like something bad's gonna happen while he's here."

"Like what?" Faith frowned.

"I don't know" replied Sophie. "I just know that it's gonna be really, really bad!" Faith noticed that the little girl was pouting, and didn't want to make her more upset than she already seemed to be, so she decided not to force the issue. The Dark Slayer sat down on the bed, patting the space beside her.

"Come sit up here with me Little Red, I'll tell ya the story of how I broke out of the big house again."

"Really?" Sophie grinned, her eyes lighting up.

"Sure" Faith smiled, happy to make her niece happy. "Come on up." Sophie climbed up onto the bed and settled comfortably beside her favourite aunt. "Now, how did that story go again.."

"Once upon a time, your old watcher Wesley, who isn't known for making the greatest decisions, decided thats it would be a good idea to take Uncle Angel's soul out to get information" Sophie began.

"Yeah, that's it!" Faith grinned. "Anyway, someone stole the jar with Uncle Angel's soul in it, and then he escaped. The Fang gang needed my help to get him back, but I was in the big house at the time...


	19. No one Badmouths Buffy's Girl

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

"So" said Buffy, after Riley had told his story. "Let me see if I've got everything. There's a type of demon that carries an extremely lethal poison sting in it's tail that your scientists have never found any antidote for. A tribe of said demons is heading towards Cleveland as we speak. You and Sam were sent to intercept and exterminate them, but Sam was called off on another mission before you got here. By your calculations the demons should start flooding in tomorrow night, and you need my help to deal with them."

"Yeah, that's about the gist of it" said Riley.

"Well that shouldn't be any problem" said Buffy. "With Faith helping as well.."

"Faith?" Riley interrupted, frowning. "Really?"

"Yes" said Buffy. "She's the best demon fighter I know."

"Maybe, but from what you've told me before she could also be pretty dangerous. And there's no denying that you once hated this girl. Are you sure we can trust her?"

"I never hated Faith, not really" said Buffy, beginning to feel a little awkward now, and also kind of annoyed. Riley was trying to give advice on a subject he did not understand, in an area where he really had no right to give it. "Her turning on us was just as much our fault as it was hers. And.."

"That doesn't answer my question" Riley cut Buffy off before she could finish. "Are you _really_ sure.."

"I think I know whether not I can trust my own girlfriend Riley!" the slayer snapped. There it was. The cat was out of the bag. Riley sat in shocked silence for a moment, but when Buffy stood up to leave, he stopped her.

"Forgive me if I'm being out of line here, but if I remember right the whole sleeping with the enemy thing didn't work out so well the last time you tried it."

"Faith is not the enemy" Buffy turned to face her ex, resisting the very strong urge to haul off and punch him. "We'll help you get rid of the demons, but after that I don't think we'll have anything more to say to each other." Riley frowned as he watched the slayer march off upstairs, then turned to Willow, who had been listening in on the conversation.

"Doesn't any of this worry you?" he asked. Willow did feel a little sorry for Riley, as the information he had just heard must have been a shock, and from the look on his face he seemed quite confident that she was going to agree with him. Once upon a time, she probably would have. But not anymore.

"Look, what Buffy had with Spike couldn't even hold a candle to what she has with Faith" Willow explained. "And, for all intents and purposes, Faith's kinda my sister-in-law now. She's family, and we Scoobies stand by our family."

--

When Buffy entered her bedroom, the sight she found made all her anger melt away. Faith had changed into the motorbiking teddy bear pyjamas Buffy had given her just before they started dating, and a book lay open on her lap. Sophie was curled up against the Dark slayer's side, sleeping.

"Hey" Buffy smiled.

"Hey" Faith replied quietly as she looked up. "So, what does Soldier boy want?"

"He needs us to help him get rid of this gang of demons that he says are due to hit town tomorrow night" Buffy explained, sitting down by Faith's other side. "But when I said you should come he started asking all these questions, like he didn't think we should trust you."

"I guess you can't really blame the guy after what happened the last time we met.." said Faith.

"I guess.. even so, I pretty much told him in the nicest way possible to shove it" Buffy grinned, giving Faith a kiss on the cheek. "No-one badmouths my girl."


	20. Magic

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

Unfortunately, Buffy's actions in defending her girlfriend served to make the next day incredibly awkward. Both slayers refused to speak to Riley. Echo would growl at the commando if he got too close to either one of them. Willow and Tara were talking to him, but every conversation they had was short and uncomfortable. Baby Lily shared her big sister's perceptive abilities, but was not yet old enough to process them properly, and the only way she knew of doing so was to cry at the top of her lungs whenever Riley was nearby. Willow invited Xander and Anya over so that Riley would have somebody to talk to, but as Xander now counted Faith as one of 'his girls', this didn't help much, as he wasn't too impressed with Riley at the moment either. All Anya wanted to talk about was the baby, and Riley could only stay genuinely interested for so long before it began to drive him insane. Sophie managed to avoid most of the awkwardness while she was at school, but contributed to it when she got home, by running away and hiding in her room.

--

Despite all of this, when the time came for the slayers and soldier to head out on the hunt, Faith was perfectly happy to put any unpleasantness between herself and Riley behind her. To be perfectly honest, she completely understood why he thought of her the way he did. They would need to if they were going to work together, and the main reason that she had refused to speak to him was that Buffy had. Well, that and her own uncomfortable feelings about their history.

"It looks like the demons are hiding out in the cemetery" said Riley as they walked through town, inspecting his top of the line tracking equipment.

"How original" said Buffy, rolling her eyes. "We never could have worked that by ourselves. Thank goodness we had this wonderful technology." Riley said nothing, but was clearly annoyed.

"It doesn't matter how we found them, B" said Faith, "It just matters that we found them, and now we can get rid of them."

"Yeah" said Riley, agreeing with the Dark slayer for the first time. Maybe he had been too quick to judge her. According to some, he did have a tendency to do that. "Let's move out."

--

When they reached the cemetery, it didn't take them long to find what they were looking for. The demons, kind of a cross between reptiles and insects in appearance, were currently in the process of driving a nest of vampires from a crypt.

""Spose we should thank 'em" Faith grinned, pulling an axe from the bag of weapons that they had brought with them. "We would have ended up having to do that ourselves eventually anyway. Whaddaya say B?" Buffy grinned right back at her girlfriend, taking hold of the Slayer scythe.

"I guess some thanks are in order." With that, the two slayers charged into the mob of demons, who almost immediately turned to face them. The vamps fled. There were very few vampires nowadays who still had the guts to take on the chosen two.

"Remember to watch out for their tails!" Riley called after them as he fiddled with his government-issue blaster. He was a little annoyed with the two for running in before they had formed any sort of plan, but he couldn't deny that they were doing good. Individually, Buffy and Faith were both great fighters, but when they fought together, it was magic. If they had worked that out back when Faith had first arrived in Sunnydale, quite a few of the Big Bads that appeared after that event may have been defeated a lot sooner. Riley on the other hand? Well, he had been trained from the beginning to be a team player, meaning that we worked best when we had someone's back to watch, and someone to watch his own back, so he wasn't so great fighting on his own. It was this fact that ultimately led to the tragic series of events about to take place...


	21. Sting

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

The fight continued on for quite awhile, and, on the slayer's side at least, things appeared to be moving along quite nicely, a pile of demon corpses building up around them. For Riley, well, not so much.

"Soldier boy looks like he's in a bit of trouble there, B" said Faith, wildly swinging her axe. Buffy nodded in understanding.

"Go. I can handle myself."

"Don't doubt it for a second, B." Faith rushed to Riley's aid, and the one time member of the Initiative suddenly found himself extremely glad that Buffy had brought the Dark slayer along, and made a quick mental note to apologise to both of them once they were all out of danger. Sadly, it was then that the unthinkable happened.

"Faith, look out!" Buffy cried. Faith spun around, hacking off the tail of a demon that had attempted to sting her. Unfortunately, the mere second that Buffy was distracted was long enough for another demon to lash out with it's own sting, planting it in the original slayer's shoulder.

"Buffy!" Faith screamed, as her girlfriend cried out in pain.

--

Meanwhile, back at the house, Willow remained blissfully unaware of the life-threatening situation that her best friend currently found herself in. She was snuggled up on a rug with Tara, gazing up at the stars just as they had done years before. The only difference this time was that they were lying on the front lawn instead of the roof, and they had a baby monitor sitting in the grass beside them. Willow could have levitated them onto the roof, but the roof of the house really wouldn't have been as safe as the roof of their old college dorm, and was not a very practical place to be if either of their children had happened to need them. And needed they were soon going to be. A few minutes later, the sound of Lily's cries began to filter through the baby monitor, at the very same moment that Sophie burst through the front door in an enormous panic.

"Mommy Willow, Mama Tara!" she cried rushing over and trying to pull her mothers to their feet. "Something happened to Auntie Buffy that's gonna make her really sick, and Auntie Faith's trying to get her home but if they don't get here soon its gonna be a whole lot worser! You have to go get them right now!" The little girl looked more worried than her parents had ever seen her, and past experience told them that they should share that worry.

--

Faith ran through the streets with her girlfriend in her arms, covered in blood and various types of goo from the demons, who she had dispatched almost single handedly after Buffy had been stung. Buffy, while grateful for her girlfriend's concern, did not see that her situation was as serious as Faith apparently seemed to think, or at least not yet.

"Faith, put me down, I feel fine."

"No can do B" Faith panted, continuing to run. "Poison'll spread quicker if you're moving. You have to keep still."

"But Faith, the poison might not have the same effect on me as it would on a regular person" Buffy argued. "For all we know, it might not even.." Before she could finish, a car pulled up beside them, a familiar mop of red hair poking out the window.

"Get in!" Willow yelled. Faith gently laid Buffy in the back seat, giving her strict instructions to keep still, before hopping into the passenger seat beside Willow. It was only after they had driven off that a very important question occurred to the witch.

"Uh.. where's Riley?"

* * *

AN: Sorry its short, but I've been neglecting this story a little and just really wanted to post something.


	22. You're Gonna Be Okay

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

Fortunately, all that had happened to Riley was that he couldn't keep up with Faith, and after realising it was useless to try, had called a Taxi, which dropped him off at the house just seconds before Willow's car pulled into the driveway.

"How is she?" he asked, concerned, after realising that Buffy and Faith were in the car.

"Well, she actually seems fine" said Faith, getting out of the car glancing at her girlfriend. She was beginning to think that maybe Buffy was right about the sting having a different effect on slayers. Yeah, that was it, it took more than a little poison to get her girl down. Riley's expression seemed to say differently.

"They always seem fine at first" he frowned. "But then all of a sudden they..." He was cut off by Buffy's groan as she got out of the car, grabbing onto the roof for support.

"I feel really dizzy.." she mumbled. She let go of the roof and almost toppled, but Faith rushed to catch her, instantly worried by the sight of her girlfriend's deathly pale skin. "M-maybe you should pick me up now."

"Yeah, sure" Faith nodded, scooping the blonde into her arms and heading towards the house with Riley and Willow close behind. "It's okay B, I've got ya, you're gonna be okay."

--

"Oh god, what happened?" cried Tara, running over as Faith carried a very sick looking Buffy inside. She was holding a red faced Lily in her arms, only just having got her to stop crying. Sophie had gone back to bed, but whether or not she was actually asleep was debatable.

"Just a little sting, sis" said Faith, sounding as though she was trying to convince herself just as much as Tara. "We'll get it fixed up soon, won't we B?"

"Mmhmm." Buffy's barely audible mumble did nothing to lessen Tara's concern.

"See?" Faith forced a smile. "Nothin' to worry about." Tara gazed worriedly after her adopted sister as she climbed upstairs, turning to Willow when she and Riley came inside.

"Buffy doesn't look so good.."

"One of the demons poisoned her" Willow explained. "If it's as bad as Riley says we have to get on with the research straight away if we want to save her. Can you call everyone and tell them?"

"Yeah, of course" Tara nodded, rushing off to grab the phone.

--

After Faith had carried her upstairs and halfway down the hall to their bedroom, Buffy retched horribly, vomiting all over herself and her sister slayer.

"Sorry" she said weakly.

"It's fine, B" Faith replied, though her tough front was starting to crumble a little now. She clutched her shivering girlfriend closer to her chest. "A little bit of spew never hurt anybody. We can clean it up." She carried Buffy into their room and gently sat her on the edge of the bed, then helped her change into a clean pair of pyjamas. "See B? This is just like when you helped me after that time I got shot with the tranquiliser. I was fine the next mornin', you're gonna be okay too B, I know ya will." The Dark Slayer tucked Buffy up snugly under the blankets, changed into her own pyjamas, then quickly took the soiled clothes to the laundry and grabbed a bucket in case her girlfriend needed to be sick again. She returned to the room and sat the bucket beside the bed, before snuggling in beside her girl, trying to ignore the way that the warmth was already beginning to drain away from her skin. "You're gonna be okay Buffy" Faith whispered, kissing her girlfriend's hair. "You have to be."


	23. Worry

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

Xander and Anya arrived to help with the research soon after receiving Tara's call. Giles and Andrew were in constant telephone contact with the other Scoobies, using all the resources at the Watcher's council's disposal to help find the antidote to the demon's poison. Angel and the fang gang, having driven through the night, arrived early the next morning, with Dawn and Connor in tow(Connor had taken to the driver's seat for the final leg of this journey).

"Hey, guys" Willow smiled halfheartedly. She hugged both Spike and Angel, then Dawn, and finally Connor. Illyria just nodded in greeting, and seeing as even this small acknowledgement of her existence was quite a big step for the god-king, and given that this acknowledgement was mostly due to Sophie's influence, Willow nodded back, smiling.

"How's Buffy?" asked Dawn, worried.

"Well she's a little under the weather right now Dawnie, but we'll fix her up soon. We're just about due for a breakthrough" Willow replied, trying to sound confident. "You go up and see her, Faith's with her now." Dawn nodded, heading up the stairs, while Connor trailed behind her in case his girlfriend needed emotional support.

"And how's Faith?" Angel asked, almost as worried about the Dark slayer as he was about his ex-girlfriend.

"She hasn't left Buffy's side since she brought her home" Willow sighed. "Except to get her water or extra blankets and stuff. She came down and got some dry biscuits a while ago too, but I don't know if Buffy would have been well enough to eat them.." They made their way into the lounge room, where everybody sat researching, even Sophie, who, though she could barely read, was concentrating hard on her book. Riley looked up, frowning.

"What the hell are they.." he began, but a glare from Willow quickly shut him up. This visit had led him to discover that she was definitely not just Buffy's sweet little best friend anymore.

--

"Faith?" Buffy whispered as she snuggled closer to her girlfriend, desperate for warmth. "I'm c-cold."

"I'll get you some more blankets" said Faith, quickly sitting up and jumping out of the bed. "I'll be right back B, don't worry." While fetching the blankets, Faith ran in to Dawn and Connor.

"Hi Faith" said Dawn.

"Hey Pipsqueak, hey Soulboy Junior" she smiled. She, like Willow, was trying to remain upbeat. "I'm glad you're here, seein' you should definitely help B keep her spirits up. Come on, I'll take ya to her." Faith led the pair to the bedroom, where the very ill looking Buffy lay, along with a slightly depressed looking Echo stretched across the foot of the bed. However, a little light did return to the original slayer's eyes when she saw her sister.

"Hey Dawnie" she smiled, mustering up her remaining strength to get into a sitting position with a little help from Faith, who wrapped the blankets around her girlfriend's shoulders. "Hey Connor. How was your holiday?"

"Great until the phone call telling me my sister got infected with an antidoteless poison" Dawn frowned, worried. "You don't look so good."

"Well, I admit I'm not feeling so hot right now" said Buffy, "But the gang's working on it, and they always find something sooner or later. But in the meantime, Faith's taking great care of me, aren't you baby?"

"As great as I know how" Faith replied.

"See, nothing to worry about" Buffy smiled. "Now why don't you and Connor go back downstairs and help out with the research, I'm sure they could use you."

"Okay" Dawn frowned. "But don't go dying on me again, that really sucked the last time you did it. And I'm sure Xander thought it was a whole barrel of laughs the time you did it to him." After Dawn and Connor left, Buffy dropped the display of strength she had been showing for her sisters benefit, and collapsed back onto the bed.

"Faith?"

"What is it, B?" asked Faith, carefully readjusting the quilt and blankets that had been slightly muddled when Buffy had sat up. "What do you need?"

"Just.. don't let Dawnie come up here again" she whispered. "I don't want to scare her if I get any worse."


	24. Things You Need To Know

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

A few hours passed, but unfortunately, the situation hadn't improved at all. Buffy's condition seemed to be worsening by the second, and the Scoobies were still no closer to finding any cure. Add to that the the fact that the tension between Riley and to certain ensouled vampires was becoming so thick that it seemed like they were going to snap and attack each other any moment, and you had a very stressful situation on your hands, a situation which Willow, having become the unquestioned second in command of the Scooby gang, had to deal with. Faith, however, was completely oblivious to the troubles of her friends downstairs, her mind focused on only one thing: the well-being of her ailing girlfriend.

"Here, B" said Faith, lifting a glass of water to her sister slayer's parched lips. "You should drink somethin'."

"I don't think I could" said Buffy weakly, shaking her head.

"You have to" said Faith, a little more forcefully. "It might make you feel better."

"Okay" Buffy relented and took a sip of water, knowing that her girlfriend only had her best interests at heart, however feeble she now thought her efforts may be. Unfortunately, almost as soon as Buffy had swallowed it, the water came straight back up. Faith frantically dabbed away the moisture around her girlfriends mouth with a towel.

"Maybe you had a little too much, B" she said. "Smaller sips next time, okay?" Buffy nodded, although she didn't think that that was the problem at all.

"Faith, I think we should talk about something.."

"Anything B, I'm listenin'."

"If.. If I don't make it.." At these words, the Dark Slayer's skin paled, and she suddenly became a lot less willing to listen.

"Don't say that, B. You're gonna be fine. Everybody's doun there workin' on gettin' you better right now."

"I know" said Buffy, taking a deep, rattling breath. "But just in case, there are some things I need to tell you just to.." she took another breath, "ease my mind a little."

"Okay" Faith agreed reluctantly. "If you really think you need to."

"I do" said Buffy. "Okay, you know my lucky stake?"

"Mr Pointy?"

"That's the one" Buffy smiled softly. "Kendra gave it to me just before she died, and I've kept it ever since. If something happens to me, I want you to have it."

"Okay" Faith repeated, frowning. "But nothin's gonna happen to you, B."

"I know" said Buffy, more to placate Faith than actually believing in the words. "And the Slayer scythe, you'll be in charge of that too. And you'll have to take care of Dawnie for me. She's lost so much already.."

"She's not gonna lose you, B" said Faith. "None of us are."

"I know" Buffy repeated again, taking another weak breath. "Now, this next part is the most important of all, so you have to listen really good, okay?"

"Okay" Faith nodded. Buffy smiled weakly, tracing the features of her girlfriend's face with her finger.

"I love you, Faith. No matter what happens, I will always, always love you. Never forget that."

"I love you too, B" Faith replied. It was at this moment she noticed her girlfriend's breathing had become very shallow. Buffy had fallen limp and heavy against Faith's side, and her eyelids had drifted shut. "Hang on there B, Red told me I'm not supposed to let ya fall asleep when you're poisoned. Buffy did not respond. "B?" Faith repeated, her blood running cold. The original slayer showed no sign of life apart from her dangerously shallow breathing. "This isn't funny B, now open your eyes." Faith began to shake her girlfriend. "You can't do this to me B!" she cried. "Buffy, come on, wake up! Buffy!"


	25. A Wicca Of Many Moods

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

Faith's sudden shrieks for help, along with Echo's mournful howls, drew the attention of the gang downstairs. Willow rushed up to help, suddenly freezing when she reached The Slayers' bedroom doorway.

"I c-can't wake her up" Faith cried, clutching Buffy's limp form to her chest. "She's breathin' and she's got a pulse, but I can't wake her up." Tears were streaming down the Dark Slayer'sface. "Why can't I wake her up, Red? Why won't she wake up?" Willow remained rooted to the spot, her feet unable to move. The scene inside the room was all to familiar to her, the memories it evoked all to raw and painful.

"I c-can't" she stammered, slowly backing away. "I'm sorry, I can't.." Willow turned and ran, almost crashing right into Tara as she ran upstairs to see what was going on.

"Willow?" she frowned, concerned. "What's wrong baby? What happened?"

"Never mind me" said Willow, voice shaking. "Faith needs help."

"Then why didn't you.."

"Just go, she needs you more now. I'll tell you after, okay?" Willow pleaded. Tara, although concerned about her wife, did as Willow asked, mostly because she was just as concerned about her de facto younger sister.

* * *

"I can't wake her up, T" Faith repeated as Tara ran into the room. "She won't wake up." Tara checked Buffy over, and, as Faith had said to Willow, she was breathing, though shallowly, and she did have a pulse, albeit a weak one.

"I think she's in a coma" Tara frowned. "That's the only reason I can think of for her not waking up."

"Well.. well that's okay then" said Faith. "People are wakin' up from comas all the time, right?" To Tara, it seemed like the Dark Slayer was desperately clutching at a quickly shrinking number of straws, but underneath her tough persona, she knew that Faith was already so broken, and she just didn't have the heart to break her anymore.

"Yeah, I'm sure she'll be fine."

* * *

With Faith temporarily calmed down, Tara made her way back out to Willow who stood by the stairs, hyperventilating a little.

"Okay, spill" she said, pulling her wife around to face her. "What's the problem?"

"It.. that.. you" Willow got out finally, tears filling her eyes. "In there with Buffy and Faith, it reminded me too much of what happened when you died. I held you, and screamed, and cried, just like Faith was holding Buffy and screaming and crying. I know it's different because Buffy's not actually dead, but.. it just hit a little too close to home, that's all."

"Oh baby, come here" Tara pulled Willow closer to her, kissing her forehead and gently stroking her hair. "Better now?" she asked after a few minutes.

"Yeah" Willow smiled, snuggling closer into Tara's chest. The sound of her wife's heartbeat always had a calming affect on her nowadays. Unfortunately, Tara's comforting actions were brought to a premature halt when shouting, screaming, crashing, and other signs of conflict were heard downstairs, along with the sound of baby Lily's cries.

* * *

The couple rushed downstairs to find Spike and Riley throwing punches at each other, along with Angel, who, under the guise of breaking them up, was really making things worse. Connor, who really had tried to break it up, had been knocked to the floor, and was being lovingly tended to by Dawn. Anya, new-found maternal instincts kicking in, had taken Lily and retreated into a corner away from the fighting, with one arm around her friend's baby and the other hand resting on her own small baby bump. Xander was standing protectively in front of them. Illyria was sorely tempted to jump into the fight as well, but Sophie was clinging to the back of her leg, so the God-King's growing protectiveness toward the little girl compelled her to stay put.

"This is all your fault!" Spike yelled, throwing another punch that connected with Riley's cheek. "If you'd never bloody come back the Slayer would still be alive!"

"I hate to agree with Spike" said Angel, "But I agree with Spike."

"You think I wanted this to happen?" Riley shouted.

"I don't know what you were bloody thinking, but what I do know is that Buffy's dead because of you!" The fighting continued.

"Stop!" Willow cried, to no avail. "Stop fighting, please!" The ensouled vamps and soldier ignored her. "Stop, stop!" Willow was still ignored. "I SAID STOP!" she screamed angrily, magically wrenching the three combatants apart. "Buffy is not dead!" she growled. The witch was mad as hell, but Tara's calming presence by her side and the sound of her child crying in the corner kept Willow grounded, stopping her from completely losing control. "But she will be if we don't find a way to cure her soon. So you three better sit down, shut the hell up, and get on with your freaking research!" The three men, all a little frightened of the flame-haired wicca by this point, obeyed Willow's orders. Then, taking a deep breath to calm herself, Willow moved to Anya and took Lily from her arms, so gently it was hard to believe she had been screaming just a few moments before. "It's okay Lily, Mommy Willow's got you now. Your silly uncles aren't fighting anymore.."


	26. Sleep

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

And so, they continued to research. The Angel, Spike, and Riley kept quiet for fear of losing their cool and attacking each other, and therefore facing Willow's wrath, again. Willow, however, was completely focused on her research, as was Tara, sitting close beside her. Baby Lily was sitting across both her mother's laps, contentedly sucking on a teething ring. Anya had fallen asleep, her head resting on Xander's shoulder. Sophie and Illyria shared a book, staring uselessly at its pages since neither one of them could read properly. A few hours passed. Sophie looked up suddenly, a small gasp escaping from her throat.

"I gots to go the bathroom!" she cried, standing and running towards the stairs.

"Okay sweetie, but try to be quiet" said Tara. "And don't bother your Auntie Faith."

"I won't" Sophie replied, and she wasn't lying. She wasn't going to _bother_ her Auntie Faith, she was going to _help_ her.

* * *

The little girl climbed the stairs and quietly crept into Buffy and Faith's room. Faith's slayer senses would normally have registered Sophie approaching the minute she had reached the top of the stairs, but she was so wrapped up in talking to Buffy (she'd heard that talking to people in comas could help bring them out of it), that she did not notice the little girl's presence until Echo yipped happily at the foot of the bed.

"Oh, hey Little Red. Did your moms send ya up here to check on me or somethin'?"

"Not ezackly" said Sophie. "I comed to tells you that you need to go to sleep."

"I can't go to sleep, Little Red" Faith frowned. "What if Auntie Buffy wakes up?"

"Auntie Buffy _wants_ you to go to sleep" said Sophie.

"How do you know that?" asked Faith, confused.

"Don't know, I just do" Sophie shrugged. "Anyways, you've got to go to sleep, 'cause Auntie Buffy can talk to you if you're asleep. Faith looked puzzled for a moment, but then her eyes widened in realisation.

"You mean in a slayer dream?"

"Uh-huh" Sophie nodded.

"Well, it was really nice of ya to come and tell me that, Little Red" Faith sighed, eyes drifting back to the pale, motionless Buffy. "But I don't think I could sleep right now even if I wanted to."

"I can help you" said Sophie. She climbed onto the end of the bed, sitting cross-legged beside Echo. "Close your eyes, and try to relax."

"I don't think that's the type of thing that's gonna work in this situation, Little Red" Faith frowned.

"It will, just close your eyes" Sophie repeated. Faith sighed, then obeyed. A few seconds later, the Dark Slayer cracked open an eyelid, seeing Sophie with her own eyes closed, obviously concentrating very hard on something. "Auntie Faith!" the little girl snapped. "This isn't gonna work unless you keeps both your eyes closed!"

"Okay, okay they're closed! But what are you.. whoa, I actually feel really drowsy all of a sudden.." The last thing Faith thought before she'd drifted off completely was that there was really something valid in Illyria's theory that Sophie was more powerful than any of them realised.

* * *

_Faith's eyelids fluttered open, and the first thing she saw was the golden hair of a familiar slayer who was snuggled against her chest._

_"It's about time you got here" Buffy looked up at her, smiling, and giving her a quick kiss. "Actually, I'm kinda surprised that Sophie managed to get you to go to sleep so quickly. You'll have to thank her for me when you go back."_

_"Yeah.. yeah I will" said Faith. She had gotten so used to looking at the pale, sickly, Buffy that it had taken a few seconds to recognise the seemingly healthy one with her now. "Uh, where are we B?"_

_"We're on a picnic" said Buffy, gesturing to the rug they were sitting on, the basket that lay nearby, and the park surrounding them. "We've never been on a picnic before, and if this ends up being our last time together then.."_

_"Don't say that!" Faith cried, backing away._

_"Faith.."_

_"No! You promised me, B, remember? Back when we first started dating, you said you couldn't promise you wouldn't die, but you promised you'd do your best to live. You promised me, but it doesn't look like you're tryin' Buffy!"_

_"I am, believe me" said Buffy sadly. "I'd wake up and be with you in a second if I could. But I think we have to face the fact that.."_

_"You can't die, B!" Faith cried. "You're not supposed to die! We're supposed to have a kid, I saw her! We're supposed to have a kid Buffy!"_

_"I know" said Buffy, tears filling her own eyes. She hugged Faith tightly, trying to calm her down. "I know."_


	27. Perfect Day

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

A little while later, Tara realised that Sophie was taking an awfully long time going to the bathroom, so she decided to go check on her. She made her way upstairs, frowning when she spotted her daughter sitting on the end of Buffy and Faith's bed.

"Sophie, I thought I told you.." she began, but her stern tone quickly turned to one of alarm when she noticed that her daughter had a serious nosebleed, just as Willow had used to get when she used too much magic. "Sophie!" Tara ran into the room, panicking. Echo whined, apparently worried too. "What are you doing?" Sophie ignored her mother, not wanting to lose her concentration. "Whatever it is is obviously too much for you, so stop it right now!"

"I can't!" Sophie cried, still focusing on her task as blood trickled from her small nose. "I've gots to keep Auntie Faith asleep, Auntie Buffy's not finished talking to her yet!" Tara sighed. Any time it seemed like Sophie might possibly be misbehaving, the little girl alway's justified it with a reason so incredibly sweet that it was impossible to stay mad at her. She knelt at the end of the bed, drawing on her own magical energy.

"Go wash your face, sweetie. I'll make sure Auntie Faith stays asleep."

* * *

_Faith's screaming and crying gradually subsided, not because she actually felt any better, but because her throat was raw and painful, and her eyes were not capable of forming any more tears. Buffy continued to hold her girlfriend as her breathing slowly returned to normal._

_"Faith?" she asked eventually._

_"Mm?"_

_"What does she look like? Our daughter, I mean" Buffy clarified. "I never saw her, just myself pregnant with her, so.. What does she look like?"_

_"Are you sure you wanna know?" Faith frowned. "It won't make it worse or anythin', knowin' what you're gonna miss?"_

_"Yes, but I think it'll feel just as bad if I don't know" said Buffy. "Tell me what she looks like, Faith. Please?"_

_"Well, I only saw her for a minute myself, but I'll do my best" said Faith, voice cracking. If Buffy really was going to die, she couldn't deny what might very well be one of her final wishes. "She had your eyes.."_

_"Aww, I like your eyes."_

_"Well, I like yours and she has them, so tough. She had my hair though.."_

_"That's good."_

_"And your smile, B, she definitely had your smile." Faith suddenly heard giggling, and looked up to see a child very similar to the one she had just described running around in a playground that had suddenly sprung up nearby. "How.."_

_"This is my dream, Faith, it's suppposed to be my perfect day" said Buffy, snuggling deeper into the Dark Slayer's chest. "Now it is." _

* * *

Tara saw Faith's muscles relaxing of their own accord, and knew that she would be able to stay asleep by herself, at least for a little while. She got up, intending to go help Sophie clean up her nose, but was cut off by a certain member of the powers-that-be suddenly appearing outside the room.

"Cordelia!" Tara cried. "You have to stop doing that!"

"Sorry, no time for warnings" Cordy frowned. "Look Tara, I love you girl, but sometimes you really are kinda stupid."

"What?"

"Without you, Willow would still be just a schoolkid floating pencils. You have more magical knowledge in your little finger than the rest of the Scoobies put together. The thing that can save Buffy is in _your_ head, Tara. Go back to basics, you'll figure it out." Cordy disappeared, leaving a very confused Tara behind.


	28. Tired

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

Tara sat herself on the end of the Chosen Two's bed. She stared at the comatose Buffy, trying desperately to think of the thing she apparently knew that would help save her. She thought hard, but no ideas came. Actually, maybe thinking to hard was the problem.

"Back to basics, back to basics.." Tara repeated to herself, remembering Cordelia's words. She looked to the ceiling, frowning. "Really, you couldn't have given me anything more helpful?" Then she sighed. She really was frustrated that Cordy hadn't given her any more information, stewing over it wouldn't help anyone, least of all Buffy. So, Tara fetched a beginners book of magic that Dawn had been learning from in an attempt to prevent herself causing anymore chaotic magical incidents, then returned to her place on the edge of the bed, flipping throufgh pages with Echo whining beside her.

* * *

_"I think I get it now" Buffy whispered, finally tearing her eyes away from the giggling child playing nearby._

_"Get what B?" Faith asked._

_"What Tara said after she was resurrected, about Heaven not being Heaven for her without Willow. I don't think Heaven will be Heaven for me anymore without you" Buffy replied. She paused for a moment. "You have to remember that.."_

_"You love me, I know."_

_"Yes, but not just that. Everyone else loves you too, especially Sophie, and Tara" said Buffy. "She is your sister now, and she will be whether I'm here or not. The Scoobies are your family. Stay with them, don't do anything stupid like go off into the world on your own again._

_"B.."_

_"Promise me, Faith. Promise me you'll stay with them."_

_"Okay then, I promise" said Faith. Buffy suddenly drew a deep, rattling breath, and Faith's face paled. This was familiar, too familiar. Dream Buffy suddenly became as sick as the one in the real world, and she had become even sicker while Faith had been asleep. Their daughter disappeared, and the idyllic surroundings of the park began to crumble. "B? What's goin' on?"_

_"I'm tired, Faith" said Buffy. She crawled into her girlfriends lap, curling up even tighter against her. "Can you hold me, please? Just hold me."_

* * *

Tara continued to study the book, and had just reached a section on healing herbs. She gasped. Healing herbs, that was it! She jumped to her feet and ran from the room, heading downstairs. A few seconds after she had left, Faith's eyelids fluttered open. It took a moment for the haze of sleep to clear from her mind, but once it did she sat up, pulling Buffy's pale, limp form into her arms and cradling her against her chest like a baby.

"I'll hold you, B" she whispered. "I'll hold you."

* * *

"Vervain!" Tara yelled as she reached the loungeroom. She set Sophie down, having quickly fetched her from the bathroom along the way.

"What?" Willow frowned, confused.

"Vervain" Tara repeated. "It's a herb, Naturopath's believe it has healing properties. It does, but it's more powerful when it's used magically. Donny and I hardly ever got sick when we were young because our Mom gave us Vervain tea whenever she thought we might have been coming down with something. It can cure pretty much anything, we can use it to save Buffy."

"Great!" Spike grinned. "So where do we get some of this Vervain stuff?" Tara's face fell.

"I don't actually know, I've never seen it in stock at the store.."

"I knows where to find some" Sophie whispered.

"Where?" asked Riley. Sophie looked up, fear in her wide blue eyes.

"The cave."


	29. A Family Thing

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

At the very mention of 'The cave', baby Lily, as strongly connected to her sister as she was, began to bawl.

"A cave?" said Riley. "What cave? Where?"

"Not _a_ cave" said Willow as realisation hit. "_The_ cave." Tara gasped as she too began to catch on. Riley, however, was oblivious.

"Okay, where is _the_ cave then?"

"This is a very sensitive matter, Riley" Willow frowned. "How much have we told you about Sophie?"

"She's your daughter and she was born from magic" Riley replied. "That's about it."

"It's true that she was born from magic, but not ours" Willow explained. "She was created by a group of demons who wanted to.."

"Demons?" Riley cried, shocked. Sophie ducked behind Tara's leg as the soldier's eyes fell on her. "How could you.."

"If you say even one word against my daughter you will regret it" said Willow, glaring at Riley. "Because I will hurt you, and there's not one person in this room who would do a thing to stop me."

"I'd cheer her on. Hell, I'd probably even hel.." Spike began, but Angel elbowed his grandchilde to shut him up. Riley looked around the room, finding everybody now glaring at him. The threatening gazes of Willow and a certain blue-skinned God-King were particularly unnerving.

"Alright, I didn't mean to upset anybody, I just thought.." he gulped as Willow's eyes narrowed. "Nevermind, go on."

"The demons created her so tthey could use her to steal my magic, and they kept her in their cave until she was three years old" Willow continued. "But one night she escaped, and ended up running into me, then the demons chased us but luckily we ran into Faith and she helped us.. boy, somebody really must have been watching over us that night huh?"

"Got that right" Tara smiled.

"Anyway" said Willow, smiling back, "Three days and one kidnapping later I found out who she really was, then another few days later Tara was resurrected, and we haven't mentioned the cave since, until today when we've found out a powerful magical healing herb apparently grows there." She paused, a little confused. "What would demons want with a magical herb?"

"They used to makes me take it" Sophie whispered, peeking out from behind Tara's leg. "I got sick a lot when I was with them." Willow once again felt hatred for the demons swell in her chest, knowing that her daughter's illness would most likely have been caused by lack of care or poor nutrition. Riley, unfortunately, lacked any sort of attachment to Sophie that would help him to sensitively deal with the situation.

"Great" he said, smiling at the little girl. "We can go to this cave, you can show us where the Vervain is.."

"Whoa, hold up" said Willow, cutting him off. "We are not taking her back there."

"Well how else are we supposed to find the herb?" said Riley, annoyed. "A cave able to house that many demons must be huge, we don't have time to search it all ourselves!"

"We'll have to make time" said Willow, crossing her arms. "It's a miracle Sophie came through all this as well as she did. There is nothing you can say to convince me to take her back to that cave." Riley opened his mouth to argue, but Sophie got in first.

"I can shows where to look" she said, turning to Tara. "Mama Tara, hold my hands."

"Okay.." Tara obeyed, a little confused.

"And close your eyes." Sophie closed her own eyes, and Tara followed suit. "Now concentrate real hard." The pair remained silent for a minute, while the others looked on, confused. "Do you see it now, Mama Tara?"

"I think I can" Tara smiled, "Yes, I can." The blonde's smile widened as she opened her eyes. "I know where to go."

"Then let's go" said Riley, gettting to his feet.

"You're not coming, this is a family thing" said Tara. "And Anya, it might be a bit dangerous for you, so do you mind staying here and watching the girls?"

"Of course not" Anya replied, taking Lily from Willow. The sunlight posed a problem for Spike and Angel, which left the cave hunting party to consist of Willow, Tara, Xander, Dawn, Connor, and Illyria.

"I can't come, but your taking the demonic blue girl?" cried Riley.

"Yes Riley, we're taking the demonic blue girl" Willow grinned as they headed out the door. "Now come on Scoobies, we've got a Slayer to save!"


	30. Unexpected

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

Illyria took on her Fred form, and then, with Willow and Tara leading the way, the group headed off to the cave where Sophie had been born. It was well hidden in an extremely overgrown corner at the far side of the park.

"Everybody ready?" asked Willow as they reached the mouth of the cave. "I'm pretty sure I killed all the demons last time I was here, but I could have missed a couple if they were out hunting or something, and I have no idea how fast these things breed, and it's been two years so even if they're aren't any demons left something else nasty could have moved in.." Tara cut Willow off with a kiss, the only sure-fire way to shut her up.

"Not the time for babble, honey" she smirked.

"Right" Willow blushed, slightly embarrassed. "Let's go, everyone!" And so, they marched into the cave... then screamed(except for Illyria, who would have stayed put if Connor hadn't caught her arm on his way past) and ran back out again.

"What the hell was that thing?" cried Xander. "'Cause if it was one of the demons that created Sophie, that poor kid was even more worse off than I thought."

"No" Willow panted. "Sophie's demons were a lot smaller, and they were blue and kind of talked like evil businessmen."

"I think that was a Gora demon" said Dawn. "Me and Spike stole an egg from one the time I tried to resurrect Mom.. Don't look at me like that, Tara" she said as the blonde witch frowned. "I never went through with that, and besides, you're not exactly the poster girl for 'dead things should stay dead' are you?"

"No, I guess not" Tara replied.

"So now what are we going to do?" Connor asked, turning to Willow. It had been mutually agreed that in the event of Buffy's absence or injury, Willow would assume the role of leader within the Scooby Gang. Spike had made special mention of this to Illyria when the group had left, and the God-King had accepted the wicca's leadership. Willow thought for a moment.

"We do exactly what we came here to do" she replied. "The Gora was unexpected, I admit, but it's not really that big a problem. After all, it's only in the front chamber of the cave, and the Vervain is further back, right?"

"Yeah" Tara, who knew exactly where the Vervain was, nodded.

"Good" said Willow, turning to the others. "So all we have to do is hold the Gora off long enough for Tara to get past it. Any objections?"

"We're gonna need some bigger swords" said Xander, frowning as he peeked into their bag of weapons.

* * *

"1, 2, 3, go!" cried Willow as the group ran into the cave, weapons raised. The Gora roared in anger, and the Scoobies were forced to dodge blows from it's huge claws. Poor Xander very nearly missed being smashed between the creatures teeth.

"Ah! Please don't eat me!" he yelped, swinging his sword as he leapt out of the way. "My kid is too young for me too die, it's not even born yet! Surely you understand that with your eggs and all, right?" Then, he paused. "I'm trying to reason with a demon. Man, Ahn's baby-brain is already rubbing off on me." The mention of eggs, however, had given Dawn an idea. Moving as fast as she could, she snatched an egg from the Gora's nest, and ran, dodging it's attacks along the way.

"Hey, look what I've got!" she yelled, waving the egg over her head. The demon screeched horribly, and moved to pursue Dawn, but the former Key's plan had inspired Willow as well. She telekinetically yanked the remaining eggs from the nest, keeping one for herself and sending the others to Xander, Connor, and Illyria. The Gora screeched again, angrily following the egg nappers, but leaving the path further into the cave clear.

"Tara, go!" Willow yelled. Tara, though worried about her wife and her friends, nodded, and ran.

* * *

Tara ran as fast as she could, deep into the cave to where she knew that the Vervain, the magical herb that could save Buffy's life, was hidden. She was running at such a speed that it was hard to stop in a hurry, and so she crashed into the blue-skinned, yellow-horned demon that suddenly appeared in her path.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" said the demon, grinning evilly.


	31. Her Everytime

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

"I'm actually quite impressed" the demon continued. "Nobody usually makes it past the Gora in one piece. Most of the time, my fellow demons and I just get stuck with it's leftovers." The demon cocked it's head at Tara, confused. "Actually, you look a little familiar. Do I know you?" The whole time the demon had been talking, Tara had been studying it, trying to form a plan of attack. From what she could gather, the demon, apart from it's horns and tail, had more or less the same configuration of anatomy as a human. And so, instead of responding to it's question, she drew her leg back and kicked it square between the legs. The demon groaned in pain, dropping to it's knees, and Tara ran.

* * *

Back in the first chamber of the cave, the others were still running around with the Gora demon's eggs, keeping it distracted. The Gora was slightly confused, not knowing which one of them to go after first. Then, suddenly, Illyria threw her egg to the ground, smashing it, and the Gora gave a horrible screech of anger.

"In what universe was _that_ a good idea?" yelled Xander.

"One-eyed one, son of Angel, duck!" Illyria ordered.

"What?" asked Connor, confused.

"Duck!" Illyria repeated. Xander and Connor glanced at each other, still confused, but did as the God-King instructed. Illyria took a few steps back, then made a running jump, first onto the boy's backs, then onto the Gora's shoulders, snapping it's neck. It gave one last shriek before falling down dead, Illyria standing triumphantly atop it's corpse. The other Scoobies stared at her, mouths agape.

"Okay" said Xander eventually, "Why the hell didn't she do that when we got here?"

* * *

Tara continued to run deep into the cave, until she eventually found a hollow in the cave wall, in which Sophie had shown her that the Vervain grew. She reached in and seized the plant around it's base, attempting to uproot it. Unfortunately, the demon she had kicked was slowly sneaking up behind her, intent on getting it's revenge. It was just about to close it's claw over her shoulder, when suddenly, it's head rolled to the floor, and it's body fell with a thump. Tara turned, her panic at how close she had come to death or serious harm subsiding when Willow, tightly clutching her sword, looked up at her and smiled.

"I kinda still owed you one" she grinned. "No-one messes with _my_ girl either." Tara smiled back at her wife, but her mind quickly returned to the task at hand.

"He said their were other demons. Come on, help me pull the Vervain up." The two witches reached back into the hollow and tugged at the plant, while the others took to the role of lookouts.

* * *

Back at the house, Sophie had had a very tiring day, and was exhausted, so Anya had put both she and baby Lily down for a nap. When she came back downstairs afterwards, Riley, who had been moping around since the other Scoobies' departure, decided to talk to her. Anya would give her true opinion and tell it like it was, no matter what the others might have thought.

"Anya, doesn't any of this seem weird to you?" he asked. "Just accepting that girl as their daughter even though she was created by demons?" Angel suddenly leapt to his feet, looking like he wanted to put Riley's lights out.

"Hold up, Angel" said Spike, pulling his friend (yes, they were friends, just don't ask them to admit it out loud) back down. "Let her say her bit first. That girl's got a bigger heart than any of us give her credit for." Anya remained silent for a few moments, before finally speaking.

"Did I tell you that the baby is a boy?" she began, a hand resting on her stomach.

"Um, congratulations" Riley frowned. "But I don't see what that's got to do with.."

"I mean, we don't know for sure that it's a boy because Xander wants to be surprised, but I feel like it's a boy" Anya continued. "He kind of looks like a little alien right now. But you know what? I already love him. And if he still looks like a little alien when he's born, I'll still love him, because he's my son. He could be the ugliest child in the universe and I'll still love him, because he's my son. Even if he grows up to be an intolerant demon-hunting commando like you, I'll still love him, because he's my son. No matter what happens, he'll always be my son, and I will always love him."

"That's really nice and all" said Riley, "But, your baby really is yours.."

"And Sophie really is Willow and Tara's!" Anya snapped.

"You tell 'em Anya!" Spike cheered.

"She may not have come from their magic, but she did come from_ them_. She is _their_ daughter" The former vengeance demon continued. "Besides that, she is one of the sweetest children I have ever met, and I love her too, almost as much as I love my own baby. Don't make me choose sides between you and her Riley, 'cause it'll be her everytime."


	32. Two Words

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

The others, Willow with the Vervain plant clutched triumphantly in her hand, returned at exactly that moment, finding Anya staring down a slightly shocked Riley, and Angel looking like he wanted to beat the soldier to a bloody pulp.

"Well.." said Tara, plucking a sprig from the plant her wife was holding. "I'm uh, just gonna go make this tea for Buffy now. Willow, why don't you go get a pot or something to plant that in, it might come in handy again one day." Willow was currently staring at the scene the group had walked in on, wondering whether or not this was a situation in which she needed to follow through on her promise to seriously harm Riley. "Willow" Tara repeated firmly.

"Right, a pot" said Willow, shaking her head as she headed out the back to find the object in question. "I can do that.." As the two wicca's left, Xander made his way over to Anya.

"Ahn, honey, I think you should sit down.."

"But he.."

"I know" said Xander gently. "Riley's been kind of an ass to everyone since he's been here. But whatever he said is just words, and a few words aren't as important as the baby being safe, are they?"

"No" said Anya, slowly backing towards the couch, then sitting down. "No, they're not." Xander sat beside her, then looked up, startled and confused when Angel clapped a hand on his shoulder.

"Welcome to the Dad's club, kid" he said. "All our past differences aside, I think your going to make a fine addition." For the first time, Xander feelt himself genuinely smiling at the vamp.

"Thanks, Angel."

* * *

A little later, as Tara was just about finished preparing the tea, Willow crept up behind her wife, wrapping her arms around her waist.

"The Vervain is safely planted" she grinned kissing Tara's cheek. "You were the hero today, you know. We couldn't have done any of this without you."

"Well, I couldn't have done it without Cordelia.."

"That's not true" came a familiar voice once again.

"Cordelia!" Tara snapped as she and Willow spun around, startled. "Seriously, how many times have we asked you not to do that? This is the second time today!"

"Sorry" said Cordelia, crossing her arms. "But I had to come. I may have been a stuck up bitch once upon a time, but nowadays I'm not one for taking credit where it's not mine to take."

"But Cordy.."

"You could have done it without me, Tara" Cordelia cut her off. "All I did was give you a little push to help you remember it faster." She began to disappear, but not without leaving one more nugget of wisdom. "You better get that tea up to Buffy soon, it works best when it's warm."

* * *

Tara made her way into Buffy and Faith's room with the tea, finding her de facto little sister still cradling her comatose girlfriend in her arms.

"Hey" she whispered, making her way over to them.

"Hey" Faith whispered back. Her gaze came to rest on the teacup in Tara's hands. "What's that?"

"If it works the way I hope, then it's the thing that's going to save Buffy's life."

"Really?" asked Faith, hope swelling in her chest.

"Really" Tara replied, nodding. "Could you hold her mouth open for me?"

"Sure" Faith obeyed, holding her girlfriend's mouth open as Tara let the tea slowly trickle down the fallen slayer's throat. "How long until we know if it worked or not?"

"Not sure" said Tara. "We'll just have to wait and see."

* * *

Faith did wait. Or at least, she tried to. But the whole ordeal had left her extremely exhausted, and the chance that her girlfriend might possibly be okay had made her relax just a little, and so, against the wishes of her heart and mind, her tired body drifted off to sleep. However, she was woken again not too long after when a pair of soft, oh-so-familliar lips pressed against hers. For a few seconds Faith kept her eyes squeezed tightly shut, hardly daring to believe that this was really happening, that it wasn't just another dream, but eventually let them flutter open to find Buffy smiling down at her.

"B!" she cried happily. "You're okay!"

"I'm okay" Buffy repeated, grinning, as though she was still trying to convince herself. She squealed as Faith leapt at her, kissing her fiercely. They spent what felt like an eternity this way, tackling and squealing, and laughing, and kissing, and more I love yous than either of them could count. But in amongst all the tackling, squealing, laughing, kissing, and I love yous, two more slightly unexpected words slipped out of Faith's mouth.

"Marry me."


	33. Reasons

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

The, tackling, squealing, laughing, kissing, and I love yous stopped. Buffy blinked, taken aback.

"What?"

"Marry me, B" Faith repeated. As much as it might have seemed as though the words had just slipped out in the heat of the moment, the Dark Slayer realised that this was something she had been thinking about for awhile, if only subconsciously.

"Are you serious?" said Buffy, frowning. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I love you, like, really, really, love you, but you're not exactly the poster girl for.." Buffy was cut off when Faith kissed her again.

"I've never been more serious about anythin' in my life" said Faith, brushing a stray lock of hair out of her girlfriend's face. "I almost lost you, B.."

"Faith" Buffy sighed, propping herself up on one elbow. "I love you, and I'd love to marry you, I really would, but.. Marriage is a huge commitment. If I marry you, it can't just be because I almost died. That can't be the only reason. You understand that, right?"

"You want some more reasons, B?" Faith grinned. "Okay, I'll give you some more reasons. I want to marry you because I can't help smilin' everytime everytime you walk into the room. I want to marry you because you taught me how to snuggle. I want to marry you because you can throw up all over yourself and still be the most beautiful woman I've ever seen" Faith was surprising even herself with how emotional she was getting. She swallowed, suddenly feeling a little less confident, although that didn't make her words any less true. "But I guess the main reason that I wanna marry you is because I love you, Buffy. I love you and I.. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Those enough reasons for you?" Rather than reply verbally, Buffy, tears streaming down her cheeks, flew at Faith, pulling her into one of the most passionate, emotional kisses they had ever shared.

"Yes" she whispered, slightly breathless, after they had broken apart.

"So.. So you'll marry me?"

"Yes, Faith" Buffy smiled, letting her forehead rest against her new fiance's. "I'll marry you." They sat in contented, comfortable silence for a few minutes, until Faith began to chuckle. Soon, the chuckling evolved into a fullblown fit of riotous laughter. "Faith? Are you okay?"

"I'm just happy, B. I don't think I've ever been this happy before" She gave Buffy another kiss, and they once again fell into silence, though it wasn't long before Faith broke this one as well, forcing herself to pull away from Buffy and climb out of bed. "Uh, we should probably go tell the others that you're okay. And, uh, a ring, I've got to get you a ring.."

"You don't have to get me a ring Faith.."

"I want to get you a ring, B" Faith smiled. "How else am I supposed to make sure everybody knows you're mine?" She held a hand out to her grinning fiance'. "Now come on, there are a lot of people downstairs who are gonna be very happy to see you."

* * *

The newly engaged slayers sped excitedly into the hallway, pausing when they saw Sophie padding out of her room down the hall, one hand rubbing her sleepy eyes with one hand while the other appeared to be curled tightly around some unseen object.

"Hey, Little Red" Faith grinned, scooping the little girl into her arms as she approached. "Your Auntie Buffy's all better! And guess what? We're getting married!"

"I know" Sophie yawned. "Cordelia comed to my dream. She said she used up all the visits she was allowed to have today telling my Mommies stuff, but she wanted me to give you this before you wasted all your money on a new one." Sophie held out her hand, opening her fist to reveal a small, sparkling diamond ring.


	34. Rings

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

The ring was silver, and had two small rubies set either side of the diamond. Faith stared at it for a moment, before a smile spread over her face.

"This was my Grammy's ring" she said, taking it from Sophie's hand. "Once when I was really little she said it was gonna be mine one day. But because I was only five when she died my Mom took all her stuff and sold most of it to get money for.. I don't remember exactly." The truth was, Faith did remember, _exactly_, but wouldn't say in front of Sophie. "Anyway, I tried to argue with her over it but all that got me was a good b.. you know, that doesn't matter either. I just never thought I'd see this again." Faith's smile widened. "B, give me your hand."

"Faith, you don't have to give me that" said Buffy, shaking her head. "It's special.."

"That's why I want you to wear it" said Faith. "Now, give me your hand."

"Okay.." Buffy held out her hand, slightly reluctantly, letting Faith slip the ring, which fit perfectly, onto her wedding finger. "But if you want me to wear something that belonged to somebody special to you, then you have to wear something that belonged to somebody special to me." The blonde disappeared back into the bedroom, returning a few minutes later. "Okay, now give me your hand." Faith shifted the position of her other arm so that she could still hold Sophie comfortably, then held the appropriate hand out to Buffy, who slipped a gold diamond ring onto Faith's own wedding finger. "This was my Mom's engagement ring. She took it off when she went into hospital and just never put it back on.."

"B.."

"I wear your ring, you wear mine" said Buffy seriously. "That's the deal."

"Well, alright then" Faith grinned. "Let's go give the other Scoobs the good news." They headed for the stairs, but Sophie began to wriggle, indicating she wanted to be let down.

"I should stays up here."

"Why do you say that Little Red?" Faith frowned.

"I don't want anybody to fight about me" Sophie sighed. When both Slayers gave her confused looks, she elaborated, describing the earlier events of the day that neither of them had witnessed. "Riley doesn't like me very much. When Mommy Willow telled him that demons maked me he.."

"Oh, that's it!" Faith growled, not needing to hear anymore. She handed Sophie to Buffy and marched down the hallway, stomping down the stairs.

"Faith, wait!" Buffy called after her.

"Don't try to stop me, B!" Faith called back. "Soldier boy can say whatever the hell he wants about me, but the kid is off limits!"

* * *

Downstairs, the others were waiting anxiously to see if the Vervain tea had worked. They were expecting, or at least hoping, for Buffy to bounce into the room and declare that she was cured. What they definitely were not expecting was for Faith to march into the room and punch Riley in the face, and, accidentally of course, knock him unconcious, as well as leave him with what was quite obviously going to become a black eye, and a nasty looking cut due the fact that she had happened to punch with her newly christened ring hand. Everybody stared in silence for a moment, until Spike began to clap and cheer.

"Nice shot, Faith!" He laughed. "Knocked the bloody wanker for six, you did!" The vamp stood, moving to inspect the unconscious soldier closer. "Bloody hell, how'd you make him bleed like that?" The cut was gushing blood, but not enough to really worry anyone.

"It's obviously because of that ring she's wearing" said Anya matter of factly, before continuing to flip through one of the baby books that Tara had leant her.

"Ring?" asked Dawn, confused.

"What ring?" said Angel, frowning.

"Faith doesn't wear a ring" said Willow, puzzled.

"About that.." Faith began with a nervous chuckle. At that moment, Buffy entered the room, carrying Sophie in one arm and wrapping the other around Faith's waist.

"Guess we have a lot of explaining to do, huh?" she grinned.


	35. Apology

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

While the other Scoobies stared, slackjawed, Buffy recounted the events that had taken place upstairs. Once their slightly overloaded minds managed to process this information, Dawn squealed, and from there the congratulations came in thick and fast. Faith didn't think she'd ever been hugged so much before in her entire life. Scratch that, she _knew_ that she'd never been hugged so much before in her life. In the past, she had been very vocal about the fact that she 'didn't do hugs'. However, since she had taken up permanent residence in Buffy's house she had begun allowing some exceptions to this rule. One of course, was Buffy, although that should have been obvious enough that it didn't have to be mentioned. Sophie had slipped through the Dark Slayer's carefully built emotional walls the second the little girl had blamed herself for Faith's beating at the hands of the demons who had held her captive. And a few week's before when baby Lily had wrapped her arms around Faith's leg and smiled up at her from her rug on the floor, she had decided that baby hugs were another exception. After all, babies didn't know any better. And, although the majority of hugs being forced upon her now were making her feel slightly uncomfortable (The fact that she was still wearing her motor biking teddy bear pyjamas probably didn't help), when Tara finally made it through the crowd and reached her, Faith couldn't help but think that there was another person she may need to add to her list of exceptions. They were sisters now after all. Well, that and the fact that Tara had made the tea that saved Buffy's life. No-one had actually told her that Tara had made it, but saving the day with a cup of magical tea seemed like such a Tara thing to do. And yes, Faith did feel like she knew the woman she called her sister well enough now to be able to say that.

"Hey, T" she grinned, noting the fact that there was no awkwardness when the other woman hugged her. "Guess I'm gonna owe ya double now huh?"

"Um.." Tara frowned, confused. She knew one thing that Faith thought she owed her for was Buffy's recovery. After a moment of thought, she could come up with only one possibility for what the other thing could be. Tara brushed her fingers over the scar she had recieved protecting the younger Faith from the shattering vodka bottle that her drunken mother had thrown at her. "If you mean this, I think you kinda repayed me already when you broke my Dad's nose."

"Not that T, but if you ask me, your Dad deserved way more than a broken nose. What I mean is, I need another favor from you."

"Okay.." said Tara, even more confused.

"Well, since B and I are gettin' married I'm gonna need a Maid of honour, or Best Man.. or woman, however the hell it works with two girls" said Faith. "And seein' as how you're my sister now and all, I was thinkin'.."

"Of course, Faith" Tara smiled. "I'll be your, uh.. whatever we call it." Faith smiled too, but before she could reply she heard a sound, familiar despite the fact that she had never heard it before, and turned to look for it's source. Riley was beginning to come to, and Echo had planted himself at the soldier's feet, growling. Faith had never heard her dog growl before, which is why it had taken her a moment to identify the sound.

"Echo, come here boy" she called. Echo continued to growl as Riley sat up. "Echo, leave him." The dog hesitated for a moment, then padded over to Faith's side, licking her hand. "Good boy."

"Thanks" Riley groaned, rubbing the back of his head.

"I wasn't protectin' you" Faith frowned, scratching Echo's head. "I was protectin' him. Them Animal Control guys don't take to kindly to dogs that go bitin' people, even if they do deserve it." Faith felt Buffy's hand slip into the one that was not resting on Echo, and the rest of the Scoobies standing around her.

"You hit me" Riley mumbled as his mind began to clear.

"Uh-huh" Faith nodded. "And unless your plannin' on apologisin' to Little Red I wouldn't bother gettin' up, 'cause I'll just knock ya right back down again." Riley's eyes drifted to Buffy, showing both surprise at her recovery and hope that she would offer him some help.

"Don't look at me" she frowned. "I'm not gonna stop her."

"Little Red, come here for a second" Faith called. Sophie stepped shyly forward. She was wearing her favourite 'Little Mermaid' pyjamas, and clutching Tara Bear close to her chest. "Look at that kid, Soldier boy. Really look at her. Do you seriously think she's evil?"

"No" said Riley after a moment, shaking his head. He realised that he really _had_ been an idiot. He turned to Sophie. "I'm sorry for the mean things I said about you."

"It's okay" said Sophie quietly. Once upon a time, she had thought those things about herself too. After another few moments, Faith looked at Riley and nodded, then offered him her hand, pulling the soldier to his feet.

"Can somebody get this guy an ice-pack or somethin'? That eye's gettin' real nasty."

* * *

The gang spent a few hours celebrating Faith and Buffy's engagement, until the original Slayer informed them that she was tired, and was going to turn in. After all, she had been dying not too long ago. Faith followed her upstairs to make sure that she was okay, only to have her new fiance' pull her into a kiss, then pushed her to sit on the bed.

"Thought you were tired, B" she grinned, dimples in full display.

"White lie" Buffy grinned back, straddling Faith's lap. "I was proud of the way you handled the Riley thing, and thought you deserved a little reward." She kissed her again. "Besides, you've been taking care of me all day, so now it's my turn to take care of you. And I.." she began, starting a trail of kisses down Faith's neck, "Know _exactly_ how to take care of you.."

* * *

AN: The next chapter is going to jump ahead six months, straight to the wedding :)


	36. Something Blue

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

"Faith" Tara whispered, gently shaking the sleeping slayer's shoulder. Faith mumbled unintelligibly and rolled over. "Faith. Wake up, little sister, you're getting married today.. well, tonight anyway." As one of the chosen members of Faith's side of the wedding party had a certain aversion to sunlight, she and Buffy had decided that a nighttime ceremony was best. The night was their time, after all. Vampires liked to think that they owned the night, but anybody who knew the Chosen two could see that it really belonged to the Slayers.

"Wagup, wagup!" baby Lily giggled. She was just under a year old now, and was beginning to mimic some of the words said by the adults around her, as well as saying her own baby-talk interpretations of most of the Scooby's names.

"Faith" Tara repeated, shaking a little harder. "Wake up, Faith."

"Wagup, Fai!" said Lily, clapping her hands. Echo, now fully grown, jumped onto the bed and began licking Faith's face.

"Okay, okay, I'm awake" Faith smiled, sitting up and giving Echo a scratch behind the ears. For today, the dog's collar had been replaced with a bowtie, and attached to it was a small velvet puch inside which the Slayer's wedding rings were safely concealed. "I'm gettin' married today" Faith smiled, although the smile turned into a look of slight panic when she realised the magnitude of her words. "Damn. I'm gettin' married today."

"Yes you are, which is why I let you sleep-in until noon" Tara smiled. "One of the advantages of having your wedding ceremony at night, I guess. But now you have to get up so we can start getting you ready. "Willow and Sophie.."

"Ih-oh, Phie!"

"Yes" Tara smiled, stoking Lily's hair. "Anyway, they've already gone to Xander's with Dawn and Connor to help Buffy. Angel's downstairs with Spike and Illyria.." A howl of laughter from the bleach-blonde vampire floated up the stairs. "And uh, it sounds like he's got his tux on."

"Alright, then" said Faith, throwing back the covers and swinging her legs over the side of the bed. "Guess it's time to get ready for my weddin'. Bride me up, T."

* * *

"Okay, let's see what we've got here" said Dawn, frowning as she ticked the items off on her fingers. "Something old is Mom's veil, something new is the dress, something borrowed is my necklace.. Don't lose that by the way, it was a birthday present from Connor."

"I won't" Buffy smiled as Willow worked on her hair.

"And that's everything" Dawn grinned, rubbing her hands together.

"But what abouts something blue?" asked Sophie.

"Something blue.. Oh my God, we forgot the something blue! Everybody, quick!" Dawn called to the apartment's other occupants, panicking. "Find something blue!"

"Does Illyria count?" asked Connor.

"Unless Buffy can wear her, no!" Dawn snapped.

"It's really not that bad, Dawnie.." said Willow, trying to calm the girl down.

"Not bad?" Dawn cried. "Not bad? This is really bad, as in bad luck. If Buffy doesn't have something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue it's bad luck!"

"No, what would be bad luck is if we'd decided to have the wedding on my birthday" said Buffy. "Anyway, I don't think Tara wore anything blue on her wedding day, did she Will?""

"Yeah, she had a blue hairclip" said Willow. "I didn't see it until, um, later" she blushed, "But she had a blue hairclip."

"You owe me, Buffy Summers!" cried Anya, waddling into the room looking about ready to pop and dropping a pair of blue rhinestone earrings into Dawn's hand before flopping into a chair that Xander quickly carried over for her. The baby was due in just a few weeks now, and Xander was behaving like a perfect gentleman. Anya, unfortunately, was not and never really had been a proper lady. "I am so over this pregnant thing!" She grumbled. "My back aches, my ankles are swollen, and I have to pee every five minutes because somebody" she glared at her stomach, "Thinks it's funny to go around kicking my bladder! I just want it to end already! Hear that, tiny human? I'm done! Get the hell out of me right now!"

"She means tomorrow" Xander chuckled nervously as Willow, Buffy, and Dawn glared at the mother of his child. He crouched down in front of Anya, rubbing her belly and speaking to the baby inside. "Don't get the hell out of Mommy 'til tomorrow."


	37. Ready

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

Back at the Summers house, Tara was trying to work on Faith's hair, but the baby in the Dark Slayer's lap that she was constantly cooing and making faces at was complicating matters.

"Okay, this isn't working" said Tara with a smile. "As sweet as this is, you're going to have to put her down if we're going to get you ready in time.

"Aww, but Tara.." Faith began.

"I could take her for a while" said a familiar voice from the doorway, interrupting them.

"Dee!" Lily giggled, reaching her little arms out.

"Eh, close enough" Cordelia smiled, taking the baby from Faith's lap. "You'll get the first bit eventually." This visit by the power was not greeted with the cries of 'Cordelia! You have to stop doing that!' that normally accompanied her appearances, as after what had happened at the last Scooby wedding, everybody had kind of expected it. Cordy smiled at the happy commotion that was beginning to be heard from downstairs.

"Hi, Cordy" said Tara with a lopsided smile.

"Hi, Tara" Cordelia smiled back before turning her attention to the Dark Slayer. "So Faith, do you think Buffy would mind if me and my heavenly buddies crashed your wedding?"

"Hell no!" Faith grinned. "Wouldn't have it any other way, Queen C."

"Good" Cordy grinned, giggling as Lily played with her hair. "Oh, and someone wants to talk to you.." She moved aside to let Joyce through the door, and Faith began to feel rather awkward. Faith always felt awkward around Joyce, mostly due to the lingering guilt about what she had done to the woman the last time she'd seen her alive.

"Hello, Faith" Joyce smiled.

"Hey, Joyce" said Faith with a slightly nervous chuckle. "Uh, wouldn't you rather be spendin' time with B or somethin'?"

"I'm going to" said Joyce, "But I wanted to come speak to you first, to welcome you to the family."

"You didn't have to.." Faith began awkwardly.

"Yes I did" Joyce cut her off. She smiled and walked over, giving her soon to be daughter-in-law a peck on the cheek. "Because really, you're already part of the family, and I think, maybe, you were always meant to be. It just took us all a while to realise it." Faith felt a lump in her throat, and tears begin to prick at the corners of her eyes. When she tried to speak, no words would come. The only way that the Dark Slayer could think of to respond was to stand and hug Joyce, sobbing against the older woman's shoulder.

"Good thing you haven't done her make up yet" Cordelia whispered to Tara. Tara frowned, gently elbowing her.

"Oh, don't cry honey" said Joyce, trying to comfort the girl.

"I don't deserve.."

"Yes you _do_" said Joyce, cutting her off again. "You've more than made up for your past."

"Not for what I did to you" said Faith. "And that's one of the things I regret the most, because you were never anythin' but nice to me. And I never got the chance to try and make it up to you, because you died.."

"Well, how about this?" said Joyce, after thinking for a moment. "You just make sure you take care of my girl, and we'll be even, okay?"

"Okay" Faith smiled, wiping her eyes. "I can do that."

* * *

That evening, a bus that had been hired to transport all guests who were not members of the wedding party to the wedding pulled up outside of the house. The bus was Andrew's idea, therefore Giles had reluctantly allowed him to drive, though this was mostly because he most likely would have had to surrender the wheel to his apprentice anyway when they reached Xander's house, as this would be the Watcher's stop because Buffy had asked him to give her away.

"Toot, toot!" Andrew grinned as he honked the horn. "All aboard the wedding guest express!" Giles let out a weary sigh, while Rona and a few other slayers already sitting in the bus rolled their eyes. But then their jaws dropped along with Andrew's as they spotted Spike, Illyria, and a large group of supposedly dead people making their way towards the bus.

"Hi, everyone!" said Fred in her usual bubbly tone, as she and Wesley slid into their seats.

"Hello, Rupert" Jenny smiled, kissing Giles' cheek.

"Hi, Rupert" Joyce echoed.

"Close your mouth and drive, man" Gunn frowned at Andrew as he got on the bus. "We've got a wedding to get to." Andrew promptly fainted.

"Bloody hell" said Spike, rolling his eyes. He heaved the unconscious Watcher-in-training out of the way and took his place in the driver's seat. "Don't worry kiddies. Ol' Spike'll get you all to the Slayer's wedding."

* * *

The bus made one more stop at Xander's apartment, dropping off Giles and Joyce in exchange for Connor and Anya (Both brides had asked the former demon to be a bridesmaid, but she had refused, saying she didn't want to ruin their wedding photos by being all fat and pregnant in them), they headed on to the hall where the ceremony was going to be held, by which time Faith and her half of the wedding party were already there. The Dark Slayer, wearing a sequinned black dress, fidgeted anxiously.

"I'm freakin' out here, guys" she said, turning to Angel and Tara with a slightly panicked expression.

"You'll be fine" said Angel.

"Your only sayin' that 'cause your my Best Man!" Faith cried. "What if I'm not fine? What if I'm no good at bein' a wife?"

"Faith, calm down" said Tara, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, that's exactly how I felt when.."

* * *

"..Tara and I got married" said Willow. Outside the hall, she and Buffy were having a very similar conversation.

"But every relationship I've had before this has ended badly" Buffy wailed. "What if I.."

* * *

"..Screw this one up too?"

"Everyone goes through this" said Tara. "It's.."

* * *

"..Okay to be nervous" Willow continued, trying to reassure her worried friend. "But when you see her.."

* * *

"..You'll know" Tara finished, smiling. "So.."

* * *

"Are you ready?" Willow asked.

* * *

"Yeah" Faith grinned.

* * *

"I'm ready" said Buffy, smiling.


	38. Forever Love

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

The doors of the hall opened. Xander made his way down the aisle first, followed by Willow, Dawn, Sophie performing her flower girl duties, and finally, Buffy, accompanied by both Giles and Joyce. As soon as she saw her wife to be, Faith's fears eased. Sure, she was still a little worried about whether she'd be a good wife, but she knew that Buffy would be a great one, and could teach her and guide her through it, as she'd done for all the rest of their relationship. The two Slayers smiled at each other as the Celebrant began to speak, welcoming all the guests and talking about the commitment of marriage, before instructing Faith to say her vows.

"Uh, um, uh..." The Dark Slayer knew exactly what she wanted to say, she had practised it multiple times, but now she found herself tongue-tied.

"I'll go first" said Buffy, smile widening. "Although I don't really know where to start either. I mean, if somebody had told me five years ago that I'd be standing here with you today, I would have thought they were insane. We both would. But I guess maybe the best loves are the ones that you don't see coming. Because now, If I look forward five years, I can't see myself without you, and if I look even further forward, I still can't. I see myself with you forever, Faith. Forever, and whatever comes after that." The Celebrant nodded, then turned to Faith.

"Whoa, I don't know how I'm gonna top that one B, but here goes" Faith began. "Well, everythin' you said, that goes double for me. I never in a million years would have seen us comin' either. Then again, I probably wouldn't have seen love comin' from anyone. I've never been in love before, and no-one's ever loved me the way you do, Buffy. Everythin' I know about love I've learned from you. You're my first love B, and my last, 'cause I never want to be with anyone else." While Buffy smiled, teary-eyed, Echo, sensing that his moment had come, proudly padded forward, lifting his head to give the Slayer's easy access to the pouch attached to his bow-tie. Following the Celebrant's instructions, Buffy and Faith each took a ring, exchanged them, and then shared their first kiss as a married couple. The guests cheered.

"I love you, Faith" Buffy whispered, slightly breathless, after they had broken apart.

"I love you too, B" Faith whispered back, kissing her again.

* * *

After the official business of signing the Marriage certificate and taking the Wedding photos was done with, everybody headed off to the reception. Tara sat bouncing baby Lily on her knee, watching as Sophie helped Spike attempt to teach Illyria how to slow dance. Suddenly, Lily looked at something, or rather, someone, approaching from behind Tara, and began to clap and giggle.

"Ih-oh, Ih-oh!"

"Hey, Sweetie" Willow smiled, kissing her daughter's cheek, then Tara's, before taking a seat beside her wife. Lily reached out for her, so she took the baby and shifted her into her own lap. "You know, not too long ago that was us" she said, gesturing to Buffy and Faith over on the dancefloor.

"I know" said Tara, smiling her trademark lopsided smile. "It feels like yesterday." They watched their newlywed friends for a while, until Xander rushed over to them.

"Um, guys?" He began, sounding rather panicked. "Not that I want to cause any trouble or ruin our friends Wedding reception or anything, but you two are the only ones who really have any experience with this stuff and.." he glanced over at a certain pregnant former Vengeance Demon, who sat nearby looking like she was in a great deal of pain, "I think Anya might be in labor."


	39. Worth It

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

"Then what are we waiting for?" cried Willow, leaping to her feet with Lily in her arms and flying into a panic. "We have to get her to a hospital!"

"Willow, sweetie, calm down" said Tara with a chuckle. "We can handle this.."

"Speak for yourself.." Xander muttered, still worried.

"We've got plenty of time" Tara continued. "Now, you take Lily and go tell everyone else what's going on, and Xander and I will help Anya."

"Okay" Willow nodded. "Okay. I can do that." As the wicca rushed off, Xander and Tara made their way over to Anya.

"I hate you" the former demon hissed at Xander, just having fought her way through a contraction.

"How are you doing?" Tara asked gently.

"_His __child_" she spat, pointing accusingly at Xander, "Is trying to kill me!"

"I.." Xander began.

"Xander, it's probably best if you just keep quiet for now" Tara cut him off, before turning back to Anya, helping her up and gesturing for Xander to take her other side as they began slowly leading her towards the exit. "I know it hurts at the moment Anya, but it'll all be worth it at the end.."

"How do you know?" Anya snapped, crying out as another contraction hit.

"I did it a year ago, remember?" Tara chuckled.

"Oh, right.. Why didn't you warn me that it was going to be this painful?" she yelled, glaring at her friend. At that moment, just as they reached the door, two things happened. One was that Anya's waters broke, and the other was that Willow had managed to acquire a microphone from the band playing on the other side of the room.

"Attention everyone!" The red-head yelled, one arm holding the microphone, the other holding Lily. "Um.. Anya's in labor." After that, chaos ensued. Everybody ran for the exit. Faith scooped her new wife into her arms as she ran.

"Faith!" Buffy squealed.

"There's no way you can run in that dress, B" said Faith, defending her actions.

"To the Wedding Guest Express!" cried Andrew.

"Andrew, look out!" yelled Xander, wincing as the soon-to-be Watcher slipped in Anya's recently broken waters and fell to the floor, knocking himself out.

"Bloody hell" said Spike, rolling his eyes as he lifted the unconscious nerd and slung him over his shoulder.

* * *

Spike, due to Andrew's current lack of conciousness, once again took it upon himself to drive the bus, now occupied by everyone. The hospital staff were somewhat surprised by the appearance of a bunch of people in formal wear, but quickly leapt into action when they realised Anya's situation and rushed her off to a delivery room, accompanied of course by Xander. Everybody else took seats in the waiting room, occasionally receiving strange looks from passersby.

"Well" said Joyce after a while. "The ceremony was beautiful."

"Yes, very" Giles agreed.

"Very, very" said Sophie, nodding.

"And uh, that was the best half a Wedding reception I've ever been to" Angel added. Everyone murmured in agreement.

"Thanks guys" Buffy smiled.

* * *

"I _HATE_ you, Xander Harris!" Anya screamed, nearly crushing her child's father's hand as another contraction, now more intense, hit.

"I know, Ahn" Xander replied, wincing. "You've told me nearly a hundred times already."

"Well I mean it!" Anya snapped. "Now I know why I granted so many wishes to women in labor!" Fortunately, the nurse in the room had heard so many women shout strange things while giving birth that she didn't bat an eyelid.

"Hey" said Andrew, peeking around the doorway. "Just checking in to see how.."

"GET OUT!" Anya screamed. Unfortunately, Andrew couldn't get out, as he had fainted once again. A few moments later, Spike appeared. "GET OUT!" Anya screamed again.

"Don't worry, I'll be out of your hair in a second, love" he said, again hefting Andrew over his shoulder. "Giles just asked me to come fetch the bloody nerd. We knew this would happen if he came down here.."

* * *

A few more hours passed by. Xander had been subjected to endless declarations of hate from Anya, and had had to switch the hand she was squeezing as he was pretty sure that she had dislocated one of his fingers. Soon, a Doctor entered the room with a midwife in tow.

"Well, I think we might be ready to push, Miss Jenkins" The Doctor smiled. Xander let out a sigh of relief. Maybe Anya would calm down a little, and hopefully stop hating him, once the baby was out. "Okay, when the next contraction comes I want you to push, okay?" Anya nodded, and when the contraction came, she pushed, and screamed, and squeezed Xander's hand. And when the next one came, she pushed, and screamed and squeezed Xander's hand again. Between contractions, she yelled at Xander about how she hated him and was never letting him touch her again. But after a while, she forgot her anger, her mind registering nothing other than the pain she was in.

"I can't do it anymore" Anya whimpered.

"Where almost there, Miss Jenkins, I can see the head!" said the Doctor. "Just keep pushing, you can do it!"

"No I can't.." Anya sobbed.

"Anya, look at me" said Xander. Anya hesitated for a moment, then turned to face him. "I know it hurts, and if there was anything I could do to stop you hurting I'd do it in a heartbeat, but like Tara said, it'll be worth it in the end. And you've wanted this baby for so long, I can tell. Just one more push, and it'll be here." Anya nodded, and when the next contraction hit, she pushed as hard as she could, and screamed louder than she had screamed that whole day. And when she was done screaming, the first thing she saw was the Doctor holding a tiny, dark-haired, newborn human, wailing at the top of his lungs.

"Congratulations Miss Jenkins, Mr Harris" the Doctor smiled. "You have a healthy baby boy."

"Does Daddy want to cut the cord?" the midwife asked Xander. Xander nodded and stood to go cut the umbilical cord, unable to tear his eye away from his newborn son. The baby was then placed gently in Anya's arms. Even though he was messy, still covered in blood and gunk from his birth, and did kind of look like a little alien, he was still the most beautiful, wonderful thing that she had ever seen.

"Hello, tiny human" she whispered. "I'm your Mommy." The baby boy stopped crying, blinking up at his Mother with wide brown eyes.

"So" Xander grinned. "Worth it?"

"Definitely" Anya smiled.


	40. Being Daddy

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

"What are we going to call him?" asked Anya as she stared at her son, now cleaned up and wrapped in a fuzzy blue blanket.

"You mean you're not still pushing for Xander Junior?" Xander smirked.

"No" said Anya, shaking her head. "I don't think it fits him. But I can't think of anything else, and I need to think of something else, because he needs a name, but I have to make sure it's a good one because he's going to be stuck with it forever.. Do you have any ideas?"

"Hmm.." said Xander, thinking for a moment, then holding his arms out for his son. "Give him here for a sec." Anya gently handed the baby over to his father. "Hey there, little guy" Xander grinned as the newborn gurgled happily, staring up at him. "What are your Mommy and I going to call you, hey?" He did actually have an idea, he'd had one for a while, but had needed to see the baby, and find out for sure whether it was a boy or a girl, before he brought it up. He smiled as the baby boy's tiny hand made a grab at his nose, knowing that the name he was considering was the right one. He gave his suggestion to Anya, who frowned, mulling it over.

"I guess that sounds okay.." she said, thinking for a little while longer. "Yes, it's very okay. I like it."

"Great" Xander grinned. "I should go tell the others.." he moved to hand the infant back, but Anya shook her head.

"Take him with you" she said. "Go be the proud Daddy."

"You sure?" asked Xander, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. I love our tiny human, really, but I just pushed him out of a part of my body that is really much too small for him" said Anya. "So if it's alright with you, I'd like to rest for a little while."

"Okay" Xander smiled, standing up and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before heading out of the room. "We'll be back soon."

* * *

"Gee, they've been a while haven't they?" Andrew frowned, standing up. "Maybe I should go check on them one more.."

"NO!" yelled everyone in unison, except for Buffy and Faith, who had begun making out in the corner, and Sophie and Lily, who had fallen asleep, one in each of their Mother's laps..

"But.."

"Andrew, the best thing for you to do is just sit down and wait patiently with the rest of us" said Giles.

"Yeah" added Spike. "I've had to pick up your unconscious butt three bloody times already. No way am I doing it again." Andrew sighed and sat back down. Luckily, he didn't have to wait much longer, as Xander soon emerged from down the hall, cradling a tiny blue blanket swaddled bundle in his arms. Willow gasped, then smiled. She nudged Buffy, causing her to pull away from Faith, and the newlywed Slayers turned to look at their friend, while the excited gasps and murmurs from the rest of the group woke Lily and Sophie. Lily whined plaintively, as babies tended to do when their sleep was disturbed, but Tara bounced her gently on her lap, comforting her.

"Hey everyone, there's someone I'd like you to meet" Xander smiled, tilting the baby slightly so his friends could get a better view of him. "This is Jesse." He looked at Willow in particular as he announced his son's name. "Jesse Alexander Harris." Willow gave a smile of understanding, a small tear forming in the corner of her eye. Everybody stood and gathered around to get a better look at the new arrival.

"Excuse me, out of the way please, favourite Auntie coming through!" said Dawn excitedly, pushing through the crowd. "I called dibs on the next one, remember?" she turned and glared at the other Scooby women, instantly suspecting them of wanting to steal the role that she had claimed for herself in little Jesse's life. Xander chuckled, tapping the young woman on the shoulder.

"Does Jesse's favourite Auntie want to hold him?" he asked, smiling.

"I'd love to!" Dawn squealed.

"Shh!" said Xander as the baby fussed slightly. "Not so loud, Dawnie, you'll scare him."

"Sorry" said Dawn, embarrassed.

"That's okay" said Xander, holding Jesse out to her. "Now be careful, and make sure you support his head." Dawn smiled widely as she gently took the newborn from his father's arms. While she and many of the others began to coo over him, Willow moved to Xander, hugging him tightly. In that moment, the dynamic between the two lifelong friends shifted slightly. They were both parents now.

"Congratulations, Daddy" Willow smiled.

"Thanks, Will" Xander grinned.

"His name.."

"Yeah, well.." Xander smiled softly, glancing over as Dawn reluctantly handed baby Jesse over to Buffy. "Since I got Anya back, I've kinda been thinking more about the other people we lost along the way, and in the beginning it so easily could have been you or me killed instead of Jesse, and if it had I know he.."

"I know" Willow smiled, hugging her friend again. "I understand."

* * *

Baby Jesse was passed around to each member of the group, but before long the little boy began to fuss, so Xander took him back, said his goodbyes to the others, and carried his son back to Anya's hospital room. He smiled when he found her asleep, snoring softly.

"I think we should leave your Mommy alone for a little while longer, Buddy" he said, cradling little Jesse closer to his chest as he sat down in the chair beside the bed. "Is that okay with you?" Xander chuckled as the baby gurgled and once again made a grab for his nose. "I'm gonna go ahead and take that as a yes."

* * *

AN: Next chapter will be the last!


	41. Another Perfect Day

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, but I do own Sophie, baby Lily, and Echo the puppy :)

* * *

And so, having met the newest member of the Scooby Gang, everybody else decided that they should go and let the new family have some privacy. The bus ride from the hospital was significantly less crowded, as Cordy and the other dearly departed Scoobies had been forced to return to the afterlife. The bus became even less crowded when it stopped to drop Buffy and Faith back at the venue of their interrupted wedding reception, where they would take a car and head off on their Honeymoon to a little beachside town not too far away. The Wedding Guest express then stopped to drop Willow, Tara, their children, Dawn, Connor, Angel, Spike, and Illyria home, before heading off to the Motel that marked it's last stop.

Once inside, Willow and Tara said their goodnights to the others, then carried their already sleeping daughters upstairs. First they tucked Sophie into bed, then gently placed Lily in her cot, along with her Willow Bear which she instinctively reached out for. Willow smiled, reaching out to gently brush her hand over the sleeping baby's cheek.

"Can you believe she was ever as small as Jesse?"

"I don't think she was, Will" said Tara, wrapping her arms around her wife's waist. "In fact I'm sure. She was a little bigger than him. It's not that unusual I guess, seeing as Lily only came one week early and Jesse wasn't technically due for another two and a half.."

"Well, she's gotten a lot bigger than she was to begin with" said Willow.

"Yeah, children do tend to do that" Tara chuckled.

"I know" said Willow, playfully swatting her wife's arm. "I was just thinking about how they do grow up so fast. I mean Sophie's at school now, plus Lily's sort of talking, and she'll walk any day now, I know it.."

"She will" Tara smiled, nodding in agreement. Lily had already made several valiant attempts at taking her first steps, and while all of these had so far ended with the little girl falling flat on her face, she hadn't given up, and her determination was bound to pay off, most likely sooner rather than later.

"So" Willow continued, "I was just thinking that we need to remind Xander and Anya to enjoy Jesse while he's tiny, because he won't stay that way for long, and soon it will be hard to remember that he was ever that tiny and.." Tara turned her wife to face her, cutting off her babble with a kiss.

"Okay, Will. We'll remind them."

* * *

Meanwhile, in their Motel room, Buffy and Faith lay wrapped in each other's embrace, basking in the afterglow of consummating their marriage.

"You're beautiful" Buffy whispered, brushing a lock of hair out of her new wife's face.

"B.." said Faith, cheeks reddening slightly.

"Seriously, after all the things we've just done, and all the things you say and do, _now_ you blush?" said Buffy, raising an eyebrow.

"There aren't a lot of people in the world who've called me beautiful and really meant it, B" said Faith. "In fact, I'd say you're just about the first."

"Really?" asked Buffy, a little shocked.

"Well, my Mom sure as hell never said it" said Faith. "Grammy did though. I think she knew Mom didn't say it enough.. or ever, so she tried to make up for it I guess."

"You _are_ beautiful, Faith" said Buffy, leaning in for a kiss. "And now" she chuckled mischieviously, "I know how to make you blush."

"You're beautiful too, B, and ha! You just blushed as well" Faith grinned. "Now we're even."

"I'd make you pay for that" Buffy yawned, snuggling closer to her new wife, "But I'm kinda tired." The Slayer gave a sleepy, contentede sigh as her eyes drifted shut. "Can I make you pay for it tommorow?"

"Yeah, B, tomorrow" Faith grinned. Before long, she had drifted off herself, and the newlywed Slayers slipped into one of their shared dreams. A dream of Sun, and picnics, and a dark-haired little girl playing on a swing. Their perfect day.

* * *

AN: Their we go, the end! As most of you already know, I have planned another story in this series, but because of a time jump between this story and the next one, I still have a bit of planning and tweaking to do before I post it. To tide you all over until then, I will be writing a series of one-shots set in this universe, as well as working on some other fics I've had planned for a while but haven't got around to. Stick with me, and I'll try not to keep you waiting too long :)


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